Detrius and best choice for cleaning

inigomontoya

inigomontoya

Member
I have crushed coral in my tank. I mainly get detrius on my LR. I have a goby that sifts through my CC day and night and does pretty well. What are my options for a cleanup crew to eliminate most of the detrius on the rocks? I have little to no algae and just a few astrea snails and two mex turbos. I hear Nassarius are great but I don't have the sand to accomodate them. Is there anything I can get that will be okay with the CC or should I just get rid of all my LR and make my tank a display instead? I hate seeing so much brown dust covering my coraline.. Any help will be appreciated!
Paula
 
razoreqx

razoreqx

Active Member

Originally posted by InigoMontoya
I have crushed coral in my tank. I mainly get detrius on my LR. I have a goby that sifts through my CC day and night and does pretty well. What are my options for a cleanup crew to eliminate most of the detrius on the rocks? I have little to no algae and just a few astrea snails and two mex turbos. I hear Nassarius are great but I don't have the sand to accomodate them. Is there anything I can get that will be okay with the CC or should I just get rid of all my LR and make my tank a display instead? I hate seeing so much brown dust covering my coraline.. Any help will be appreciated!
Paula
Get a Lawnmower blennie... They do a great job!
 
T

thomas712

Guest
Personally I would love to have a Dragon or Banded Goby, but I am afraid he would make way to much of a mess.
 
inigomontoya

inigomontoya

Member
At first Iliked my goby, but he makes a serious mess!! I just keep him now because my dwarf angel loves to chase him around the tank. I think those dragon gobys have a tendency to be picked-on easily for some reason. Maybe I will see if my LFS will trade him. I will go for the lawnmower blennie, thanks so much for the suggestions! Now I can keep my LR. I hate it when I feel backed in a corner in this hobby - until I get great advice!
Paula
 
birdy

birdy

Active Member
I don't know that a lawnmower blennie is going to do you much good on detritus, are you sure you don't have diatoms? detritus usually is not that noticeable and doesn't usually cover up LR like that.
Anyway, you may need more circulation in your tank, you should have a couple of powerheads blowing through your rockwork to keep detritus suspended so your filters can filter it out. Also if it is diatoms what type of water are you using, if you are using tap that could be what it is.
 
inigomontoya

inigomontoya

Member
I was under the impression that both detrius and diatoms are both animal matter, and thought about the Blenny and it is just an algae eater, right? Diatoms are most likely what I have, well I haev both, but Birdy is correct that the diatoms are more prevalent. I have two powerheads in my tank minus my filter, and I thought they were to go on top, just making waves. Do I point them downward or something? I thought I had my powerheads placed where everyone else has theirs, near the top.
 
neowind

neowind

Member
I would also like to know the answer to this question. I had 10 Nassirius snails that was AWSOME Detrius eaters but then I put a Koran Angel in and he ate them all

Now I need a replacement. My blennie does not eat detrius.
 
birdy

birdy

Active Member
Detritus is waste, fish waste, leftover waste from food, and the like, Diatoms are microscopic creatures that feed off of silicates in the water, they typically show up right after the cycle when silicates are in the system if you are using a pure water source they will go away as their food source dissapears. So if you are continueing to have diatoms then there is a water quality issue.
As far as thing that eat detritus, snails and hermit crabs are probably your best bet, and you should blow off your rocks once a week to suspend the detritus on your rocks so your filter and take care of it, and your power heads should be circulating water inside the tank not just the top, I usually have one at the top and then two or three in the tank circulating water around.
 
badkharma

badkharma

Member
My hermits are excellent at detritus management, even when I sometimes overfeed with pellets, they are all scrambling off the rocks to keep the substrate as clean as can be. Most of the pellets, if not picked off by the cleaner shrimp first, will be consumed by the hermits within five minutes. :)
 
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