Detritus in sump

[Jblank44]

Could the little layer of detritus in my sump really be where my 9-10 NO3 is coming from?

I see a lot of videos of nice sps tanks and what not and I notice a lot of their sumps are really clean. Is it because they clean them so much or do they do something in particular.

I have a SPS dominant tank and I am on my last little bit of manipulation and it's figuring out where my little source of nitrates comes from. I've been blowing off rocks wit a baster and cleaning sand but they dont really budge, the only thing i havent done is suck of the detritus in the sump. Here and there ill blow it off the bottom but doesnt work... could 10 ppm be coming just from that. I really hope so..... and I guess we will find out lol.

I will also be upgrading my skimmer to a capacity of a 100g skimmer so that should help. I have a 35 cube.

Any suggestions?

[bertoni]

Detritus can produce a lot of nitrate, in my experience, but I had a crushed coral substrate. I think many reef keepers clean their sumps regularly or keep the flow enough to keep the detritus in the water column, where it might be skimmed out of the system.

[Flippers4pups]

Vacuum the sand during the next water change might help. Also clean out the sump of detritus and don't over feed. Just enough that all food is eaten per feeding. Power heads off will help during feeding.

[Sandrock.e46]

Are you washing the filter pads on a regular? I also recommend a 30% water change just to jump start things.

[toothybugs]

I've gotten in to the habit of cleaning out my sump every time after blowing out my rocks. The change has been remarkable. I used to have a bad nutrient problem and couldn't figure it out. I was "doing everything right" but still having issue. Once I got a hold on nitrate levels via water changes and a lot of carbon (bordering on major OD), between blowing out my rocks and cleaning my sump, I soon had few problems. My SPS is actually coming back now so I must have done something seriously right. Now to keep on it...

[Jblank44]

Okay awesome I'll see how cleaning the sumo helps. I do clean the sand every time I do a water change. My sps look great but I feel if I had 1 ppm on nitrate they would look very good with more extension. How long does it take for you to see a drop in nitrates? Also, I use to feed only mysis but I went to the store once and they didn't have any and I got a mix that had mysis in it and I think there are a lot of old one particles that my bio load doesn't use and it fouled up. So I'm going to try and go back to just mysis. My fish eat whole pieces so I don't waste much at all and I feed my sps oyster and rodi feast so they get plent of food from that. That could help. Also getting a bigger skimmer like stated. Thanks for the tips. Tomorrow I'll get detritus out of there and I'll keep you guys updated. Once things grow in I'll update my build thread :)

[bertoni]

I'd give the cleaning approach at least a few weeks to show results.

[CStrickland]

All good advice in here, it could def be your issue. I would just add that on top of the chicken/egg issue, if I were going to post a vid online I'd polish up my sump first to show my tank on its best day, not its every day. Just a good thing to keep in mind.

Also, if your getting too much waste in the food I think rinsing it off with Rodi beforehand might help. Good luck!

[Jblank44]

Awesome. Thanks everyone. I got this new siphon that has a pump and I can suck the detritus out of there! Let's hope it works and I think it will! I will let you guys know

[theMatrix]

Awesome. Thanks everyone. I got this new siphon that has a pump and I can suck the detritus out of there! Let's hope it works and I think it will! I will let you guys know

Link to the pump?

[Jblank44]

Link to the pump?

It is like a handheld pump. Got it a petco and it works great!

this but a different brand and color: Pump (http://www.petco.com/product/127652/Imagitarium-Aquatic-Gravel-Vacuum.aspx)