How do you control detritus on the rocks?

[vanguard]

My tank is ~11 weeks old but the rocks were cured for five months before that. I was blowing the detritus off with a turkey baster but that caused a spike in nitrates.

Is there an animal that cleans the rocks all day long of detritus? Ideally it's a fish, my hermit crabs aren't getting it done because it tends to collect on the underside of the rocks.

 

[JayM]

A rather robust CUC works for me. About 2 dozen red legged hermit crabs, 3 skunk cleaner shrimp, 3 fighting conchs, and a total of about 3 dozen trochus, cerith, nassarius, bumblebee, astrea and margarita snails.

They get the job done fairly well for both algae and detritus.

 

[sfin52]

A turkey baster

 

[Reefering1]

More flow so it doesn't settle into rocks, again, after a thorough blowing out with a powerhead

 

[Rjukan]

I agree with the more flow suggestion. I cranked up my mp40 and I don't see anywhere near as much settling on the rocks now. It's ending up in the sump where I can siphon it out during water changes.

 

[Dbichler]

I blow all of my rocks off by removing my powerhead and going around all the rocks with it then put it back.

 

[Reefering1]

I rarely do, but when I do; i shut of return pump, use an additional pump to blow rocks until stuff stops coming out, then suck out as much as possible with a water change. Conversely, I don't like rocks to be too clean- i like some pod food laying around for a healthy pod population for fish. Turning waste to food..
On another note, blowing off rocks shouldn't(imo) cause a nutrient spike. Anything blown off was already in sys decomposing. If anything, skimmer should remove some and slow nutrient accumulation. Maybe this is a new tank symptom because the decaying material nutrient source isn't steady yet(?)

 

[Aquariumaddictuk]

Im a little OCD about blasting off my rocks
(No laughing at the back!)
Not much accumulation due to fairly heavy flow but twice a week I'll get a small sicce powerhead & blast any detritus off.the PE on SPS & LPS after goes crazy

 

[Garf]

I was blowing the detritus off with a turkey baster but that caused a spike in nitrates.

Quite the opposite I think, if your filtering any of it out afterwards.

 

[kilnakorr]

Question here.
I get that blowing the rocks gets rid af detritus of many forms, but does it really have any positive effect on anything?

 

[Dom]

My tank is ~11 weeks old but the rocks were cured for five months before that. I was blowing the detritus off with a turkey baster but that caused a spike in nitrates.

Is there an animal that cleans the rocks all day long of detritus? Ideally it's a fish, my hermit crabs aren't getting it done because it tends to collect on the underside of the rocks.

Manual labor. Use a turkey baster.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Question here.
I get that blowing the rocks gets rid af detritus of many forms, but does it really have any positive effect on anything?

Its natural coral food! Blow out your rocks tonight before going to bed, see how happy your corals will be.

Besides being free coral food that's phosphate free, blowing out the rocks keeps the biofilter healthy. We use these rocks because all the holes and cracks and crevices provides more surface area for bacteria. Detritus clogs these holes and cracks and therefore reduces the available surface area, and reducing the effectiveness of the biofilter. I believe its part of what leads to 'old tank syndrome.

 

[Garf]

Question here.
I get that blowing the rocks gets rid af detritus of many forms, but does it really have any positive effect on anything?

Bigger forearms

 

[kilnakorr]

Its natural coral food! Blow out your rocks tonight before going to bed, see how happy your corals will be.

Besides being free coral food that's phosphate free, blowing out the rocks keeps the biofilter healthy. We use these rocks because all the holes and cracks and crevices provides more surface area for bacteria. Detritus clogs these holes and cracks and therefore reduces the available surface area, and reducing the effectiveness of the biofilter. I believe its part of what leads to 'old tank syndrome.

But, you could have lots of surface area in the sump also, with very little detritus.
Never done it, and tank is 2+ years old.
Will try a smaller area tonight and see how much crap is in there.