Live rock dust

[Duff Man]

Against better advise, I put 3 damsels in my tank. They were really picking on my shrimp and emerald crabs, so I decided it was time they went. Unable to trap them, I had to resort to removing the live rock. Removing the live rock caused all kinds of dust to come off which created a huge dust storm which has settled on the bottom of the tank. I've blown the stuff off in the past with a turkey baster or a powerhead, but it never covered the bottom like this. I am wondering, is this stuff ok, will it be treated like waste by snails and crabs or should I vacuum it out? Just wondering.

 

[murfman]

sounds like what you had come off the rocks is detritus, not dust. You can vacuum it out when you do a water change or let the clean up crew deal with it.

 

[kaihonu82]

yup, 2nd that...increasing your flow throughout the tank will help aleviate some of the detritus that settles on the rocks/tank bottom

 

[kevin2000]

Thats called "snow" ... natural part of all reef tanks. Its a good idea to "blow your rocks' periodically .. this will place it back into the water column where it can be skimmed/filtered out .. your corals will also get a snack to boot.

 

[Duff Man]

Curious, is the detrius from the fish, snails, etc., or the organisms in the live rock?

 

[kevin2000]

Its just particulate organic matter ... often called POM or SNOW .. part of the natural biological function of a reef tank and I suspect every living thing in the tank is a contributor in one way or another.