T-Dawg Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 I'm new to fish keeping all together. I have a 10 gal tank up & running for 4 wks now. All appears good. I have 1 clown fish, 2 turbo snails & 1 hermit crab. I have no mechanical filtration. I've read about detritus & I am wondering what other critters are good at removing them? Secondly as I'm new, is detritus easily spotted on the substrate & live rock? I'm assuming if it's easily visible, I will know when it comes time to manually remove it. lastly, if it ever comes time to reomove detritus build up, do you just stir up the sand bed & then do a partial water change? Link to comment
surfy Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 NEVER stir the sand if it is a deep sand bed. Get a HOB filter and lightly dust the rocks and corals once in a while using a turky baister, the carbon or sponge media in the HOB will trap the detritus. Then you just pull the carbon or sponge (which ever you choose to use) and rinse it under some water to clean the detritus off, drain water from carbon or sponge then return it to the filter. Depending on what you are keeping in the tank, the free floating detritus that the HOB dosn't pick up will be food for corals and fan worms. Link to comment
surfy Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 I forgot to mention that detritus is a brown dust that acumulates on everything in the tank. It's also a nutrient for unwanted nuisance organisms so don't leave it in there. Don't mix up detritus with brown Diatoms. Diatoms are golden brown algae that is most noticable on sand and glass, which is normal in new and nutrient rich aquariums. Link to comment
jdsabin1 Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 I don't use a filter at all. My live rock and live sand act as my natural filter. The detritus gets taken care of my all of my critters (and by that I mean mostly the bugs and stuff that live under the rocks and in the sand). You'll know what I'm talking about after your tank is well established and you turn on a flashlight in the middle of the night and go 'oh ... my ... god'. Then you'll either be grossed out or think it's the coolest thing you've ever seen. Link to comment
cuteios Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 so is vaccuming your sand bed a good idea? Link to comment
surfy Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 I wouldn't vacume the sand. You can always lightly wave your hand across the surface of the sand to dislodge any Detritus and Diatoms. (Astraea) and (stomatella varia) snails are good at taking care of Diatoms and Detritus, also hemit crabs if you choose to put them in your tank. The other little bugs and worms will start to reproduce and slowly start helping out with the clean up crew. Link to comment
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