OK someone please help

[BlueHippoReefer]

I am having a problem with this form of what i think is detritus, it's like dirt, blows off simply if I put the powerhead right on it, I have alot of flow maybe too much now cause my LPS are suffering from all the flow, I have 2 K4's and 1 K2 in a 75g.

someone please ID this and LMK how to get rid of it, I have 5 huge turbos, and like 10 small snails. should I buy more snails.

TIA

Here is the clearest pic I could get. Im using my Brothers photobucket, hopefully it works. The dirt type stuff on the rock

 

[savethereef]

you need some grasers or some snails they ill eat it up. the more you get on the rocks it collects more.

 

[BlueHippoReefer]

Thanks Robert, so it's just a matter of not having enough of a CUC?

I bought a Lawnmower blenny but he is not touching it.

Any suggestions on what specific grazers will do the job and do it fast?

 

[kaiserkid]

What size skimmer do you have? How much are you feeding? How heavy is your bioload?

If you bioload is heavy you need a skimmer that is a little oversized for the tank so that it can handle the increased amount of particulate matter in the water. Also make sure that you are not overfeeding, especially if you don't have an "adequate clean up crew". 15 snails in a 75 gallon tank is not a lot, especially if that is all the inverts you have.

Try to keep the flow circulating the matter in the water column. This will keep the detritus suspended long enough for it to go into the overflow so your skimmer can have a shot at removing it. The flow doesn't have to be so strong that it is blowing your corals off their frag plugs :eek2:, just strong enough to keep the rocks clean.

You can introduce a more diverse cleaning crew also. Sand Sifting Starfish and Super Tongan Nassarius Snails, for example, will eat detritus all day long cleaning your sand as well as aerating the sand bed. A few Peppermint shrimp and Scarlet Reef Hermit Crabs will help keep your rocks clean. Not a lot of fish will eat detritis, most of that is going to be done by inverts.

It will also help to "blow" the stuff off of the rocks and then do a water change. This will pull a bunch of it out of the tank. If you have more time, you can take your hose for the water change and suck as much of the stuff out of the tank as possible. This will be much more effective in removing it but will take more time.

Hope this helps :thumbsup:

 

[BlueHippoReefer]

What size skimmer do you have? How much are you feeding? How heavy is your bioload?

If you bioload is heavy you need a skimmer that is a little oversized for the tank so that it can handle the increased amount of particulate matter in the water. Also make sure that you are not overfeeding, especially if you don't have an "adequate clean up crew". 15 snails in a 75 gallon tank is not a lot, especially if that is all the inverts you have.

Try to keep the flow circulating the matter in the water column. This will keep the detritus suspended long enough for it to go into the overflow so your skimmer can have a shot at removing it. The flow doesn't have to be so strong that it is blowing your corals off their frag plugs :eek2:, just strong enough to keep the rocks clean.

You can introduce a more diverse cleaning crew also. Sand Sifting Starfish and Super Tongan Nassarius Snails, for example, will eat detritus all day long cleaning your sand as well as aerating the sand bed. A few Peppermint shrimp and Scarlet Reef Hermit Crabs will help keep your rocks clean. Not a lot of fish will eat detritis, most of that is going to be done by inverts.

It will also help to "blow" the stuff off of the rocks and then do a water change. This will pull a bunch of it out of the tank. If you have more time, you can take your hose for the water change and suck as much of the stuff out of the tank as possible. This will be much more effective in removing it but will take more time.

Hope this helps :thumbsup:

Wow Thanks for all the info, I will Definitely beef up mu CUC as far as my skimmer it's an ER CS180 pulls out alot of gunk, it's kind of all I can afford at this time

I have a Diamond goby that is super active and keep my sand bed pretty aerated, I have about 5 nasserius snalis but they never touch the live rock. I have a lot of flow, so that doesn't seem to be an issue.

I will also blow alot off before WC's.

I feed pellets twice and a cube of Brine shrimp daily. Oh and a 4x4" sheet of Nori every other day.

 

[BeanMachine]

Nassarius snails are meat eaters.

 

[firereef]

I had the same problem!! I just siphoned the rocks every other day and it worked great for me. I also did the gate valve adjustment that rob told me to do on my skimmer.

+1 on sand sifting stars and nass snails!

 

[WWodyz]

have the same problem..i blow it off and do a water change.

 

[kaiserkid]

Nassarius snails are meat eaters.

Yes they are meat eaters and will likely finish off and uneaten mysis or brine shrimp, but they will also eat detritis.

 

[BlueHippoReefer]

I also did the gate valve adjustment that rob told me to do on my skimmer

Please elaborate

 

[rhkingsfan]

do a search on gate valve mod. i just means adding a gate valve to the skimmer so you can control the output

Please elaborate

 

[firereef]

do a search on gate valve mod. i just means adding a gate valve to the skimmer so you can control the output

Exactly

 

[BlueHippoReefer]

I have the gate valve mod, I was curious if there was a certain adjustment. Should I set it for wetter or drier skimate to get rid of this.

 

[kikireef]

You may be feeding too much. Pellets twice a day, 2 cubes of food once a day and nori every other day sounds like a lot (at least compared to what I feed). I used to feed a lot because I liked watching my fish during feeding but I was getting a bad cyano problem and phosphate buildup. I now feed 2 cubes of food OR pellets once a day. I have a 125 with a blue tang, yellow foxface, 2 clowns, 1 pink anthias, kole tang, red corris wrasse, lawnmower blenny, and an engineer goby. My tank is super clean now (no algae or cyano) and all my fish are still fat and happy. It might be worth a shot but like I said too...I don't know how many fish you have. Try skimming a little "wetter" as this may help as well. Keep on it and it should go away in time. Patience and dilligence is key