How do I keep my liverock looking "clean"/detritus free?

danschoenherr

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I have had 4 different tanks set up over the last 4 years now, 55g/65g and now a 34g and a 20g set up now to hold fish and corals while I complete my Deep Blue 80g build. I always seem to get a lot of detritus/fine dust build up within my liverock in addition to some grayish "flakey" looking stuff. I have used only crushed aragonite as a substrate so far and wonder if this could be a source(was rinsed prior to install). I feel I have had plenty of flow, but it keeps accumulating. I do not run a filter sock, but when I do my weekly water change, I put one on the return before I use a turkey baster and blow off all my rock work. I leave the sock on for a couple of hours after I complete my water changes. I see other tanks and the rock work looks nice and clean. I have added more hermits and snails to no avail. I do have a sand sifting goby that moves a lot of substrate into the water column on any given day.
I would like to avoid this on my next build if possible......any suggestions?
 
I use a turkey baster almost daily on mine, and then before I do a water chance I put a wad of filter floss in front of one of my power heads and blow as much as a can off of everything. I have a bare bottom so it might help a bit with keeping my rocks clean.
 
True, more flow might help. I have two mp40s and a xf130 gyre in my 45g.
 
Wow! That is probably as much flow per cubic foot as the Mississippi River. I was running 2 Jebao RW-8's at 75% and that was moving a lot of water. I may add a gyre due to the size of the new tank and stocking plans. My 80g build will be zoa/paly dominant with torches,hammers and some blastos so I was hoping not to have to really blast the flow. I was worried the crushed aragonite is breaking down and creating some of my problems, so I was thinking of a mix of crushed aragonite and fiji pink for the substrate on my 80g build.
 
I use a turkey baster almost daily on mine, and then before I do a water chance I put a wad of filter floss in front of one of my power heads and blow as much as a can off of everything. I have a bare bottom so it might help a bit with keeping my rocks clean.

I notice detritus accumulate almost daily in pockets that don't get much flow. I have a 32 gallon tank so the turkey baster works well.
 

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