how to get rid of fish poop?

[maxdout]

i am trying to figure out how i get rid of the poop w/o having to vacuum the live sand every week. i havde 80lb s of live sand and 80 of LR. 1 clenaer shrimp, 3 snails and 1 green crab. i have 6 damsels and 2 clowns. any suggestoins? 100 gallon tank

[CrystalAZ]

Don't vacuum your sand. You will vacuum up the critters living in it.

First, you need more cleaners. I'd suggest many more snails, some "micro hermits" (although some don't like them, I do), and some nassarius snails to stir your sand bed.

I'd also suggest asking reefers in your area for a cup of their sand so you get hair worms, bristle worms, and all the other cleaning critters.

I don't ever see poop once it actually comes out of the fish - the key is to let your inhabitants take care of it for you. :D

Crystal

[crustin]

lots of water flow and a good skimmer

[namas]

vaccuum out some of those damsels...lol

[IslandCrow]

Also make sure you have sufficient water flow. That will help keeping too much detritus from settling. But just like CrystalAZ said, a significantly bigger cleaning crew will definitely pay off. I have at least a couple dozen each snails and crabs (probably more, I've never actually counted), plus an urchin, cleaner shrimp and cucumber in a tank half the size of yours. I've heard rules of thumb like 2-3 snails and/or crabs per gallon, but that seems a bit excessive to me. I guess it depends on your bioload. Mine's pretty small.

[crustin]

careful on clean up crew you can add to bioload with that

[sjm817]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7618004#post7618004 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by crustin
lots of water flow and a good skimmer

[wumengche]

get more crabs and snail!!!! for snail, especially those long one that go beneath the sand and eat eat eat eat vacuum vacuum vacuum

[Sk8r]

Mostly you need bristleworms, a fair crew of them. In an ordinary tank, they're the crew that breaks down the poop into something the corals can absorb. You have a break in your local "chain of life" in that tank.

[nm354]

Get rid of the fish.

[maxdout]

thanks guys. i am going to catch the 5 of the damsels and take them to the lfs to get some blue legged hermits crabs. where would i get the bristle worms from though? btw, i have an aquac remora pro as my skimmer and maxijet 1100 + mag 9.5 and a emporor HOB, fluval 404

[maxdout]

btw, my aquacpro skimmer, it came with the mag3 pump and sits at the top of the tank. would it be better for me to put it lower down in the tank? i would have to go buy a longer hose if i want to do this... i was thinking that since it came like this, this is how it should be. any suggestions??? would a sand sifting star fish be bad to add?

[Ti]

flow is the key

[sinder255248]

The skimmer pipes should sit near the surface as this is where the proteins collect. As for the poo, add some more cleanup crew like the posts above suggest,

[Sk8r]

Ask your lfs if they've got a couple of worms. I'm pretty sure any two worms can reproduce. I think they're hermaphroditic.

[nm354]

look into the seio power heads. they produce lots of flow in a dispersed stream. plus they are not expensive (compared to Tunze that is.)

[maxdout]

im prolly going to order 2 of the seio power heads. 620s actually to add to the already flowing tank. i just picked up 4 more turbo snails, 1 blue hermit crab, 1 firered shrimp and got rid of hte damsels. only the 2 clowns now. hopefully this will clear it up. ;) thanks for all the suggestions