Excessive Debris in Water

[Meadowlark]

I have a 55 Gallon saltwater tank. Included are one Choc Chip Star, 2 Osc. Clownfish and some snails.
The equipment I have: 2 Hydor Kor 2's, Aqua C Remora Skimmer and 1 Marineland 100 h.o.b. filter.
Also, 80 lbs of live rock and live sand.

My tank has been up for over 1 year.

I decided tonight to take apart and thoroughly clean everything while I'm doing a 15 gallon water change. I'm putting 5 gallons of water into three buckets and temporarily placing the L.R. there so I can clean underneath. Upon moving the L.R. I'm noticing a great deal of "debris" coming off and from under the L.R. My questions:

Is it normal to have all this stuff in the water?

Should I remove it?

What is the best way to remove it?

Is it harmful to have all this in the water?


ALSO: Should I clean the L.R. (it is covered with Coraline Algae)

Thanks a million in advance for any answers.

[Percula9]

Vacuum the gravel or sand and remove as much detritus as possible.

[tmz]

I wouldn't clean off the coraline algae. I would get the detrius(debris) out. When you put you rock back in try to aquascape in a way that allows water to flow through and around the rock. If you are successful at this it will limit detrius accumulations. You may also wan't to puff up your sand/gravel periodically to move the detrius into the water column where the filter or skimmer can get a shot at it.

[kfisc]

You may also want to add more flow to the system, like a couple maxi-jets, korolias, to keep more detritus in suspension and going through your filters rather than settling.