spspirate
Tidepool Explorer
I know we all have tank maintenance to do but there is a particular thing I do that I just wanted to share and that is vacuuming out the detritus in the sump. For those who are new to the hobby detritus is basically undissolved waste that stores extra unwanted nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphates and even ammonia. We strive to keep good flow in the main display to keep detritus lose in the water column for filter feeders and our mechanical filtration to take out. Then we have our sand sifters, crabs, bristle worms stars etc to help out too. I find the bulk of all this detritus in my sump.I have noticed that if you keep a power head circulating water in the sump it will do a couple of things. One it will keep it suspended in the water column to be filtered out by the skimmer/inverts and the heavier particles will build up in pockets for easy vacuuming. So about once every month I try to vacuum up this detritus to keep the health of my water at tip top shape. Here is a pic of what I pulled out last month!
