Cleaning the tank

BrandonS · 11/05/2006, 03:20 PM

I have a 75g with a 20g sump. The total water in my system is 80gal (what I filled it with when it was empty. I only have two fish in the tank right now. A small perc and a small blue chromis. Invert wise I have 5 mexican turbos and 1 cleaner shrimp.

Since the bio-load is rather low for 80g of water, I have been doing water changes every 2-3 weeks. When I do these I have been cleaning off the rock and sand. They seem to get a lot of snail poop on the rocks and just misc crap on the sand bed.

Am I suppose to be cleaning the rocks and sand or is that something that will eventually break down anyway? My tank does have a fair number of pods in it. It doesn't take long to find one crawling around on the rock when you look for them. It's my understanding though nothing actually eats detritus in it's diet, that's why I was cleaning them off.

THanks for any insight to this matter.

bertoni · 11/07/2006, 01:03 AM

You can clean the rock, but the detritus should break down eventually anyway. You might need to add some detritivores, though. Bristleworms, micro-stars, and other animals might be useful. What's been added so far?

11/05/2006, 03:20 PM	#1
BrandonS Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Oklahoma City, OK Posts: 255	Cleaning the tank I have a 75g with a 20g sump. The total water in my system is 80gal (what I filled it with when it was empty. I only have two fish in the tank right now. A small perc and a small blue chromis. Invert wise I have 5 mexican turbos and 1 cleaner shrimp. Since the bio-load is rather low for 80g of water, I have been doing water changes every 2-3 weeks. When I do these I have been cleaning off the rock and sand. They seem to get a lot of snail poop on the rocks and just misc crap on the sand bed. Am I suppose to be cleaning the rocks and sand or is that something that will eventually break down anyway? My tank does have a fair number of pods in it. It doesn't take long to find one crawling around on the rock when you look for them. It's my understanding though nothing actually eats detritus in it's diet, that's why I was cleaning them off. THanks for any insight to this matter.

11/07/2006, 01:03 AM	#2
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	You can clean the rock, but the detritus should break down eventually anyway. You might need to add some detritivores, though. Bristleworms, micro-stars, and other animals might be useful. What's been added so far? __________________ Jonathan Bertoni