Excess detritus

[SeattleReefer]

My aquarium has been overrun with detritus on the rocks and sand, corals all die in it yet it can sustain animals just fine. I admittedly haven’t been taking good care of it but I want to do better, how can I start cleaning it up?

 

[strich]

All I see is blue and black dots. The very first thing you need to do here is take some time to properly report the status of your tank. Provide clear shots on the tank, and the WHOLE tank, under white light. You need to test and report the common water quality parameters as well. Once you've done that, you'll get high quality advice.

 

[slingfox]

As part of my weekly water change I blast the rocks with a powerhead to dislodge detritus. I also siphon my sand every week to keep it looking clean. I am thinking about adding a sand sifting goby which will also help keep the sand mixed up.

If you have a lot of detritus on the rocks you can take a brush and scrub off the detritus either in the tank other outside of it.

 

[TX_REEF]

As stated above, we really need a report on what your water parameters are, especially temperature, salinity, nitrate, phosphate, ph, alkalinity. Then we can begin to assess.

 

[winxp_man]

It’s why had a million bristle worms in my last tank before taking it down and now using as an oberservation tank after my fish finish QT. But the bristles are still in it. Haha.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

What kind of cuc do you have?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Your picture is too blue to see anything, but you need good flow to keep the detritus in the water and not float down to the sand or rocks, so that your filtration can filter it out. Blow the rocks before the water change and siphon it. I even blast my rocks every night, detritus is basically free coral food.