Detritus and me!

[matthewscars]

I have a 55g (two months old) and two K3s in the tank.

I have about 60 pounds of live rock. With the rock, there are bound to be dead spots. The issue im having is there are a lot. I find that with with static powerheads, the detritus constantly lands in the same spots between rocks, etc.

Although my nitrates/pho are zero, i have a constant brown and green algae bloom. Im assuming it just uses it all as it forms.

Im looking for suggestions other than 'use a baster'.

My cheato is the size of a golfball and has not grown in the past month under a 24/7 CF bulb.

I shouldnt need to add another powerhead. And ive been thinking about ordering the following inverts to help me out:

Dwarf Zebra Hermit Crab x5
Nassarius Snail (BYO) x10
Sea Cucumber, Tiger Tail x1
Tongan Fighting Conch x1
Pincushion Urchin x1

I currently have 5 Turbos, 8 or so hermits, 5x nass snails (MIA).

any ideas on this?

 

[stuccodude]

i had to put my light inches away from my cheato to get it to grow.
as far as build up in cracks either add more powerheads or get used to blasting. i could be wrong though.

 

[Chago09]

I also have a similar situation.... I have lots of detritus in certain parts of my tank although my nitrates and phosphates are undetectable. Is there such thing as a animal that eats detritus??? I currently only have turbo snails and a skunk shrimp in my tank as a cuc. I didn't want to add crabs because i didn't want to see them kill each other. Although do crabs eat detritus??? any snails eat detritus??

OP I'm not stealing your thread just adding some more questions that will help us both

 

[Tswifty]

Re: Detritus and me!

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13013725#post13013725 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by matthewscars
Im looking for suggestions other than 'use a baster'.

Use a baster :lol:

I get it in the back two corners of my tank... However it was brought to my attention that it may be the GFO media. An experienced reefer told me he only notices the brown in his tank when he runs GFO... when he doesn't it dissapears.

It seems to collect once a week... I blast it out... next week... same deal.

 

[matthewscars]

sorry im late learning some acroymns, gfo?

 

[heller792]

Nassarius snails eat poop and waste, they also do a great job of stiring the sandbed

 

[Tswifty]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13014055#post13014055 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by matthewscars
sorry im late learning some acroymns, gfo?

GFO = Granular Ferric Oxide

Phosban is a type of GFO media.

 

[stingythingy45]

"My cheato is the size of a golfball and has not grown in the past month under a 24/7 CF bulb."

Lighting is very important over a refugium with chaeto.
I had a 100 watt America fixture from H.D.
But now I have a 65 watt 6500K in a work lamp fixture as the America fixture cooked from salt water getting inside.
Chaeto ball has tripled in 3 months.

 

[Sk8r]

skip the extra invert order and get a yellow watchman goby and tiger pistol shrimp. They're quite good in that size tank. They thrive on detritus...and on anything else you give them.

If it looks as if you're going to have a lot of detritus in this setup, some mushrooms might also thrive in it: they rather like it.

 

[matthewscars]

tswifty: so you suggest disconnecting my phosban reactor or a bit and see how it goes? I can keep the carbon running?

stingy: So you are suggesting a non-compact floucent bulb? Ive read CF work if you can get it around 6500k 16w (60w)

 

[matthewscars]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13014077#post13014077 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sk8r
skip the extra invert order and get a yellow watchman goby and tiger pistol shrimp. They're quite good in that size tank. They thrive on detritus.

I had reservations about the Pistol because of the 'it can crack glass' warnings. Plus I have a peppermint and cleaner shrimp. They will be safe?

Also, can i get a diamond instead of a yellow goby? Haven't found threads on that.

 

[Tswifty]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13014088#post13014088 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by matthewscars
tswifty: so you suggest disconnecting my phosban reactor or a bit and see how it goes? I can keep the carbon running?

I wouldn't disconnect anything.

I just let mine go... and use the baster once a week. It hasn't bothered me enough where I have felt the need to seek out a solution yet.

How often do you change the media?

 

[matthewscars]

Being the tank is two months old, its been about a month for the phosban, and 2 weeks for the carbon.

I think i added way too much phosban in the reactor. Dont know if that poses an issue or i just simply wasted it. You know, being my first time and all.

 

[Tswifty]

That's the schedule I use, although I have heard of people changing carbon weekly.

Is there a chance the brown is diatoms? Are you using RO/DI water?

 

[matthewscars]

looks like this.

yes, rodi. i test the fresh water before I mix it. Always 0

 

[weluvfish54]

i had probs with this..
i put a pump (rio 1700) behind my rocks in back sitting on the bottom so there is constant flow behind and under the rocks. it does create tunnels in your sand but helps alot.

 

[Tswifty]

hmm... mine doesn't look like that. I just seem to get a fine dust on my sand in the back corners.

That looks like it could possibly be cyano

 

[Playa-1]

It sounds like you have a phosphate problem and the algae in the tank is beating out the Chaeto for the nutrients. I would suggest that you add a phosphate media reactor and increase the size of your clean-up crew. Also you will want to see what you can do to improve the performance of your fuge. A golf ball size chunk of Chaeto is not going to be of much benefit. If you have green algae on the glass then scrape it off. Don't be surprised if you get a diatom bloom once the algae starts to die off. The diatoms will go away and so will the algae.

Phosphate media will likely strip away the fuel that the algae is using to grow.

Make sure your use a baster to hit the rocks before your regular water changes every-other week. A good 10% water change every-other week will go along way in keeping things in order.

It's a good idea to try and figure out where the phosphates are coming from. Your top-off water, over feeding, poor circulation, canister filters, sponge filters, etc... are all suspect. It could just be an insufficient clean up crew.

I would think that 2 k3's would be plenty of circulation for your tank.

 

[Playa-1]

I see the photo, that looks ugly ...
Is that a thick mat of algae or is it a build up of fine particles?

 

[matthewscars]

As I said to Swift I have a Phosban reactor. But i am also thinking it is a lack up cleanup crew issue as well.

If it's cyano, im planning on going dark for three days to clear anything up.

As I said, I went 2 days without lights before, and right before I turned the lights on the phos/nitrate were still 0.Phos might have been .002 or less but its hard to tell with the kit.

having a narrow 55g doesnt help either with dead spot removal.