Best detritavore for refugium

[Kirstin]

I have a 3.5 gallon refugium on my 40 gallon tank. I don’t vacuum it because i have copepods for my mandarin in it but it is getting rather dirty. There is a breeding population of slugs in there plus a snail. I have removed 2 aptasia and do see some hydra in it also. Is there a good clean up crew for the refugium or do I just sacrifice the copepods and periodically vacuum it out? I have taken filter floss and a nylon stocking and attached them to the outflow and stirred the macro algae trying to clean the refugium but it does not work too well.
Thank you.

 

[Idoc]

Probably most of your pods are in the chaeto ball hiding. But, I doubt you will destroy your pod population by siphoning out the detritus occasionally. Throw a few bristleworms in there to help out as well.

 

[Kirstin]

Thank you. I will try that.

 

[dtruitt]

Bristleworms are notoriously unfinnicky, as said above.

I'd also do some bumblebee and small astrea snails. The bumblebees eat a lot of the same things the bristleworms will, and can sometimes hunt bristleworms. I think the risk of a handful of bumblebees is well worth it, though. They have been known to eat a number of pests and they cover a wide range of surfaces that worms may not.

 

[Kirstin]

Thanks I will look into them.
I just looked them up, they look a lot like the snails in my freshwater tanks to keep the snails in check.