semperfimarine1 Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 whats the best way to get rid of this stuff and or is there anything that eats it? (sorry if its a dumb or retorical question) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkbait33 Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 I'd suggest any of these: Fancy Serpent Sea Star, Sand Sifting Sea Star, Sea Cucumber, Burgundy Sea Star or Blue Linckia Sea Star...do you have any of these already? Good luck getting rid of your detritus! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKarshens Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 More flow, bigger skimmer, less fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainBob Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 More flow, bigger skimmer, less fish. +1 we have a good selection of high end skimmers at aquatek, including a few inexpensive ones on consignment, you might do well to explore your options there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmanning Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 Is it all over your rockwork? or is it settling on the sand bed? We have a red fromia starfish that does a pretty good job on the rocks, and as for the sandbed, we have 2 sea cucumbers that keep the top layer of sandbed pretty much white(clean). If you have a skimmer, it will definitely collect it when you blow out of the rocks. Good Luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenM Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 Is it all over your rockwork? or is it settling on the sand bed? We have a red fromia starfish that does a pretty good job on the rocks, and as for the sandbed, we have 2 sea cucumbers that keep the top layer of sandbed pretty much white(clean). If you have a skimmer, it will definitely collect it when you blow out of the rocks. Good Luck How do you "blow it out of the rocks"? With a turkey baster? I have some pretty big "poo-piles" around the edges of my tank on top of the sand, some piles are the size of a dime. And by the looks of the poo it's my larger snails and not my tiny little fish. Would a starfish clean that up? What cleans up after the clean-up crew? Would anyone know where I could get tank vac attachment thats longer than the usual 8"-10"? Or maybe I could just use the tubing, if I could secure it to something rigid so I had more control over it. I know this sounds strange, but my arms aren't that long and it's awkward to try and vacuum the corners and around the rock and still position myself so that I can see what I'm doing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noodle Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 Manual removal during water changes would also work. Get a huge turkey baster and start squirting at the rocks as you are using a hose to vacuum the water out. As for the detritus on the sand, vacuum pretty close to sand level - det. tends to be a lot lighter than the sand grains. As for your tank vac problem, you can rubberband a long dowle rod to the rubber hosing. You don't even need to get your hands wet or worry that your arm is going to knock over rockwork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
semperfimarine1 Posted July 10, 2007 Author Share Posted July 10, 2007 +1 we have a good selection of high end skimmers at aquatek, including a few inexpensive ones on consignment, you might do well to explore your options there.what kind of skimmers and how muchalso i think my skimmer gave out but not sure. never really got it to work properly.anyways im thinking of either adding 1 or 2 prizm hang-on skmmiers on the sump?what do yall think?its mostly all over the rock not the sand.also i think my skimmer gave out but not sure. never really got it to work properly.anyways im thinking of either adding 1 or 2 prizm hang-on skmmiers on the sump?what do yall think?wow how that happen i dunno. sorry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKarshens Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 Those prizms will do you very little good on a tank your size as heavily stocked as yours is. You need something rated for 200g or more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
semperfimarine1 Posted July 10, 2007 Author Share Posted July 10, 2007 not even if i get the one rated for 300 g?? its not stocked as heavily as it once was Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKarshens Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 Those prizms are over rated. I had one when I first started and once I upgraded realized how useless it was. If you are looking to stay cheap I would look into the Corallife super skimmer 220 or shop the used forums anywhere you can and get a Euroreef or Deltec. A good skimmer is worth the extra money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sawbones Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 I have lots of starfish: 2 orange serpents, 1 reddish/ purple serpent, 1 brown banded serpent, 1 "caribbean" serpent, 1 green and white harlequin serpent, 1 green brittle star, 1 blue linkia, 1 red small fromia, and a sand-sifter, as well as countless asterinas and hundreds or more tiny brittle hitchhikers. But the best of all have been 2 black and yellow brittles I got from Steve at Horizon. They never hide, and remain high on my rocks and out in the open, cleaning their respective territories better than any others. He gets them in fairly frequently, but I haven't seen quite the same ones elsewhere - except in the Shimek "Invertebrates" book, where there is a very nice example. I certainly agree with the other posters regarding mechanical cleaning and flow, etc, but I gotta recommend these guys - They've been working away for 15 - 20 months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingfish Posted July 11, 2007 Share Posted July 11, 2007 Serpent and brittle stars may inadvertently move detritus around in their search of better foods like left over mysis shrimp and other fish foods. White sand stars constantly hunt for microfauna like copepods and amphipod eggs in the sand. They only accidentally move detritus around or deeper into the sand bed while moving around. Linkia starfish eat primarily bacterial films off of well established live rock. I think that many hobbiest's that observe these organisms "eating" detritus are not looking closely enough. Most of these organism just move detritus around and help suspend it in the water column (which is a good thing). But as for actually eating it, I don't think this is the case. Nassarius snails eat detritus, but then they have to poop too. Increasing your flow and adding even a cheap hang on the back filter with some fine floss will help your issue. Manual removal via a standard freshwater gravel siphon over the top 1/2" of your substrate works well too. For those of you needing a longer tube, regal plastics on metric blvd. sell the exact perfect size to extend the "python" gravel siphons. Lastly, don't waste your money on a prizm or prizm pro regardless of their gallon rating. i would way rather have one euro reef RS80 rated for 80 gallons than 10 prizms rated at 100g each. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainBob Posted July 11, 2007 Share Posted July 11, 2007 we actually have a nice Tunze skimmer, not sure which model, for $100 on consignment right now, it's probably worth your while to have a look. we also have a selection of new skimmers, but they start a few dollars more for an inferior skimmer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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