Detritus build up help

[Jeffpc89]

Hey guys,

I have a 40 gallon (not a breeder) saltwater tank that has been up and running for a little over a month now. I am having some issues with detritus building up pretty heavily on my substrate and I cannot find a way to position my power heads to prevent this. I have 2 power heads that go up to 170 gph (not entirely sure what the ideal amount is) and those don't seem to help. I am in the position now where I could upgrade my power heads as well. Any sort of help will be greatly appreciated.

Also, I have an emerald crab, a few assorted hermits, 4 peppermint shrimp, 4 turbos and 2 sand sifting snails that can't seem to keep up with the detritus.

Thanks!

[myjohnson]

Depends on what type of corals you want to keep. Some slow flowing corals may love the flow so I would't blast the tank.

On a positive note, you can siphon the detritus out from that one spot. :)

[Jeffpc89]

Depends on what type of corals you want to keep. Some slow flowing corals may love the flow so I would't blast the tank.

On a positive note, you can siphon the detritus out from that one spot. :)

Do you have any idea of how much gph I should have? Im only really interested in having soft corals. Also, the detritus pretty much grows all over and I would have to siphon daily to keep it off.

Thanks a lot for your help!

[myjohnson]

The amount of flow you have is ok for soft corals.

I've seen them grow in very low flow areas.

Remember right in front of the power head is a lot more flow than the back of your tank.

Either way, you can always upgrade power heads.

[Bedlamer]

You can also use an Eheim gravel vac. About $50.00 online. http://www.bigalspets.com/quick-vac-...FTEV7Aod6j4ALg


Based on the age of your tank, is your detritus maybe caused by a brown "algae" aka diatom bloom? If that is the case it should slowly resolve on its own as the tank matures.

[myjohnson]

For FW maybe but for SW there are so many other CC you can buy that keeps the sand bed moving around.

If you keeping SPS or super sensitive WC corals....it's GG after using the vac.

I would just get a good CC. Try out reefcleaners.com, they have solid reviews from everyone that's buys from them.

Personally, I'm purchase 4 orders from them on 4 different reef tanks and no complaints from me.

[Roshan8768]

Where is all the detritus coming from?? Remove the source whether it be excess food, algae, etc. and then periodically siphon it out with your water changes. Run filter floss in your filtration, and blast your rockwork with a powerhead before changing the water to get the gunk out

[Bedlamer]

If you keeping SPS or super sensitive WC corals....it's GG after using the vac.

Yes, but at the moment from what I read I'm under the impression that there are not any corals in the tank yet. So it could work as a band-aid till he figures out the cause of the heavy detritus build up. Then again like you said frequent siphoning would work as well.

[Bedlamer]

Hey Jeff, can you post up some shots of your tank, so we can have a look see?

[Bedlamer]

I was just thinking if the amount of SW Jeff was losing from frequent siphoning was making him think of the SW he was going through, you could jury rig a filter sock to the side of a 5 gallon bucket, place the end of the hose in it, then place the filtered SW back into the DT when you were done.

[myjohnson]

Best advice brah!

With reef tanks always find the cause first.

I think we need pictures my brah!