How do I maximize removal of the detritus from my tank?

[edmund36]

I have a 120 gallon tank with wet / dry filter and protein skimmer which sits inside of the sump. I would like to know if anyone has suggestions on removing the detritus from my tank.

My nitrates are rising to 10 - 20 now, I do water changes, but I am apparently not doing enough.

My system has no filter media of any type, so I’m sure something can be done here.

Does anyone have suggestions on removing the detritus / waste from the tank / sump system? Please include the how to do it with your suggestions.

I read some clean their sumps out, use media socks, external filters, media bags, etc.

I am not too familiar with this verbiage, so I would appreciate any suggestions and how to do them to keep my tank cleaner and reduce my nitrates.

Edmund

[waterfaller1]

First, get rid of the wet/dry & bio-balls. It is going to contribute to the nitrates. Increase the flow inside the tank. Do you have some powerheads for circulation? How is the protein skimmer working for you? Use a turkey baster several times a week to blow off the rocks and get the detritus into suspension so the skimmer can remove it. Do it before water changes, and you can lightly syphon the surface of your sandbed. How is your clean up crew? You can keep large tongan nassarius snails, and a couple atlantic cucumbers would help as well. I run a filter sock, I have two so I can rinse one while the other is on the tank. It is under the input in the sump, and I rinse it every day or change it. I also run a Pura Pad{by Magnavore} laid over the bubble trap in my sump. This also gets rinsed daily & changed often. The sump can be cleaned out by using a wet/dry vaccuum. On occasion carbon in a media bag can be run if you like, to polish the water.

[Glove]

Edmund
THe best thing I have found to clean my tank is a good ole' Magnum canister filter. You can put just about anything iniside the media contaiiner (or make your own) nd you can use it like a vaccume cleaner- to suck up all the stuff that settles on the bottom of your tank and or sump.
another thing- if you have an overflow or drain pipe that will let you put a filter sock to strian the water before your sump (a cloth bag type thing) this will also help.
Another way to clean accumulated waste from your tank is using some airline tubing. Get a syphon going from the tank into a bucket then suck up as much as you can before the the bucket fills up- this works well with water changes.

I prefer to use a filter sock on my drain into the sump 24 / 7 and I must keep it cleaned every 2-3 days.
I use a turkey baster or power head to blow off the main display daily- or every other day-this gets the stuff back in the flow and feed corals.
Once a month I will use my magnum to clean the tank and sump.

[Joshua1023]

Most people will have their own way to keep things clean that they will swear by. If the wet dry filter is for the new "reef oriented" tank than yes you should ditch the bio-balls. If you add about a pound of live rock per gallon of water this will take care of the nitrate situation. I have always chosen to run some type of poly filter pads in my tanks. Like waterfaller said clean these often. A good clean up crew is a must. I like a variety of snails and small Mexican Red Leg hermit crabs to keep the detritus in check. Also w/ a 125 gl tank you will be able to get a small Kole tang or any combtooth tang wich are good at cleaning detritus from your tank. Good water movement is also a good idea. I use several power heads just suction cupped to the glass to move the water around. Add a wave-timer and the alternating power heads will allow the detritus to stay suspended in the water until the poly filter can catch it. I'm sure others will chime in w/ their experiences, but these are mine.

[LobsterOfJustice]

Good flow in the tank will keep all detritus suspended. Then either use a filter sock on the drain to your sump, and/or skim wet. If you use the filter sock, change it as often as possible (dont leave it in for more than 2-3 days). You can use a turkey baster or powerhead to blow detritus out of the rocks in the tank while you have the filter sock on also.

Also, as others have said, bio-balls often lead to nitrates. This is because they are super-efficient at turning ammonia into nitrite, and turning nitrite into nitrate. However, this leads to high nitrate. If you let your rock break down the waste, it will take it one step further and convert some of the nitrate into nitrogen gas. Dont remove all the balls at once though, maybe remove 1/4 every week for 4 weeks.

[mattsilvester]

As ever, I have failed to read the other replies first, so I could be repeating what others have said.

If your budget permits, I would suggest getting rid of your wet/dry filters (a.k.a. nitrate factory). Its like a nuclear power plant - nothing is better at doing what it does, but no one knows what to do with the waste product! If you have LR, or if you are getting LR, then the bioballs are surplus to requirements.

Secondly, a skimmer is a must. Dunno if you have one or not, but a good skimmer, properly maintained will do more for your system than any other item of equipment.

Next, good water flow in the display tank will keep detritus is suspension where it will overlfow into your sump and get collected by the skimmer.

If you want to, you could use a mechanical filter, by way of a filter sock etc. However it is important to rinse this under the tap every coouple of days to remove the dirst frmo the system and prevent it turning biological.

Lastly, and I swear by mine, is a refugium. Well I like to think of mine more as a remote macro algae bed - something along the lines of 18"x12"x12" will do, with or without a substrate and lots of macro with 24hour lighting.

Do all this, stock sensibly, feed sensibly and you should have little or nitrates, and you should need do onyl 10% water change a month so just to freshen things up........ though I still like to do bigger water changes - about 25% a month, but then I do not dose with supplements etc either...... a questionable practice!

HTH

Matt

[Earl111]

I also use a gravel bed cleaner when I do water cahnges, it sifts the sand and pulls out all of the detrius. It also pulls out a little sand but I replace it every once in a while. When I pull out a 5 gallon bucket of water , the water is black

[Sk8r]

ditto on ditching bioballs, and cultivate bristleworms, which break it down.