Help getting rid of Detrius w/ clean up crew

[woody189]

Okay. so i have a 46 gal bowfront with 2 ph's, skimmer, and eheim canister filter. their all giving me about 940 gph of circulation. (this is my very first aquarium btw)
There is alot of detrius collecting on the bottom of my tank that's cycling w/ 45 lbs of LR. It's all settling on the sand. I try to move the powerheads to get good circulation so it never settles, but it doesn't seem to work.
I'm planning on getting a clean up crew when my levels are right. This'll be when everything Nitrates/ites, and ammonia, are at 0 right??
What's a good crew for me for this Fowlr. i was thinking like 10 nass snails, 10 turbos, a scarlet crab, and peppermint shrimps.....how many of these should i get?? on this site they're a group of 5, is that too many or good?
will this clean up crew help w/ my detrius?? my skimmer seems to be working, but there's still sooo much junk on my sand, especially under the little bridge in my rock...
thanks in avance

 

[lexluethar]

You are on the right track. As for the water chemistry, you will have some nitrates after you are done cycling, then water changes will remove the nitrates.
That cleanup crew looks good, i would add 10 hermits to that list. But i would add them slowly, if you add everything at once they won't have anything to eat, and will starve. Add a few snails (since you probably have algae or will have algae). As you add fish you can start adding more cleanup crew as necessary - like if you notice uneaten food floating, algae, etc. If you buy too many snails / hermits at the beginning you will end up having to spot feed them.

 

[pagoona]

My tank hasn't been set up very long, about 4 1/2 months. I recently switched from 110 watts of 50/50 PC lighting to 108 watts of 50/50 T-5 HO lighting. This stuff started showing up and I was hoping it was only a temporary bloom because of the change of lighting, but it keeps getting worse. My levels are near perfect:
pH - 8.2
ammonia - 0
nitrite - 0
nitrate - 0
sg - 1.024
temp - 78F
I run my lights for 7 hours a day and feed once a day.
Is it cyano? I've dealt with cyano before, both red and black slimes, but this stuff seems to be different.
Any suggestions for removing it? Are there any inverts that will eat it or, I dare ask, any chemicals that are effective?

 

[nordy]

I agree about the hermits-I have a bunch of small, medium, and a couple of large ones that are always crawling around the bottom of my 55gal foraging for flake scraps.
What type of substrate do you have? I have CC and I stir up a little of it at each water change, put in a clean paper filter in one of my canister filters, and the water clears up in short order.

 

[woody189]

i've got aragonite.
about the peppermint shrimp, how many would i need??
is five good or is that too much?? I'll get them once i get a few fish but id still like to know.

 

[lexluethar]

I think that would be okay, just realize that you may need to spot feed them from time to time or else they will start feeding on other things (snails, hermits, any soft coral/anemone).

 

[woody189]

thanks...preciate it

 

[apos]

Pretty much nothing you list is going to eat detritus on your substrate. The shrimp certainly won't. The nas snails won't (though they will turn it over a little bit). The turbos largely won't (they don't really like to go on the sand all that often). Siphon the top very lightly when you do a water change (do not stick the siphon into the sand: just get close enough to peel off the top layer).
Also keep in mind that many of the fish most worth getting in a FOWLR may eat your snails. Many will see peppermint shrimp as a tasty snack, and they won't last long at all. Hermits will probably be safer in a FOWLR setup. But of course it all depends on what you plan to get. There is no standard CUC that's good for any tank: each of these animals has specialized habits and diets that you need to tailor to your tank depending on what other animals you want to keep.