Silt composition

MarkD40 · 10/26/2009, 10:36 AM

Spent the day blasting my reef with a turkey baster and dislodging mucho brown silt. Much went over my overflow to be collected in a filter sock, but most stayed in the aquarium and settled back down. I felt like I just re-arranged the dust. What is the silt composed of and how vigorously do you attack it? My tank has been running for 12 years with many growing corals and no visible algae. Looks beautiful so I am not concerned about the silt just curious. I do vacuum my gravel to clean it but regret the loss of pods.

LobsterOfJustice · 10/26/2009, 10:40 AM

Add some flow to keep it stirred up. Or keep manually stirring it up.

MarkD40 · 10/26/2009, 10:51 AM

LOJ, Yeah I know, but soem of my softies and muchrooms won't open fully if I get the flow high enough to really stir things up. Guess I'm stuck.

10/26/2009, 10:36 AM	#1
MarkD40 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Kansas Posts: 647	Silt composition Spent the day blasting my reef with a turkey baster and dislodging mucho brown silt. Much went over my overflow to be collected in a filter sock, but most stayed in the aquarium and settled back down. I felt like I just re-arranged the dust. What is the silt composed of and how vigorously do you attack it? My tank has been running for 12 years with many growing corals and no visible algae. Looks beautiful so I am not concerned about the silt just curious. I do vacuum my gravel to clean it but regret the loss of pods. __________________ My ship came in. Unfortunately it hit a reef. Current Tank Info: 110 gallon reef display tank, fish, LPS, SPS and mushrooms. A 75 gallon sump in basement with protein skimmer, 40watt UV sterilizer, RO/DI, refugium with chaeto, phosban reactor. 40 gallon frag tank.

10/26/2009, 10:40 AM	#2
LobsterOfJustice Recovering Detritophobe Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Cary, NC Posts: 7,443	Add some flow to keep it stirred up. Or keep manually stirring it up. __________________ If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right. I remember when zoanthids were called things like "green" and "orange" and not "reverse gorilla nipple." Current Tank Info: 180g reef with all the bells and whistles

10/26/2009, 10:51 AM	#3
MarkD40 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Kansas Posts: 647	LOJ, Yeah I know, but soem of my softies and muchrooms won't open fully if I get the flow high enough to really stir things up. Guess I'm stuck. __________________ My ship came in. Unfortunately it hit a reef. Current Tank Info: 110 gallon reef display tank, fish, LPS, SPS and mushrooms. A 75 gallon sump in basement with protein skimmer, 40watt UV sterilizer, RO/DI, refugium with chaeto, phosban reactor. 40 gallon frag tank.