Detritus/debris Build Up On Sand

[judgek]

Had a marine setup for around 6 months now. 240L + 30L sump, skimmer, 40kgs live rock, small clean up crew (5 mexican trubo snails, 3 hermits, 1 shrimp), few fish.

I seem to get a lot of detritus/debris on top of the sand that just sits there. Looks like bits of algae, or broken bits etc etc.

I have fine sand.

How do I get that pristine sand that most people have in their tanks?

I doubt they sit there picking up every tiny bit of dirt?

Do they use carbon in a external filter? Or would having a larger cleanup crew help?

 

[owlbassboy]

what is the turnover in your aquarium mate??

 

[judgek]

Think it is near the 30X mark. Definetly above 25X.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

I never had much luck with keeping the sand very clean. I just used a gravel vac on mine when I had sand. You might also want to get some nassarius snails as they do a good job of keeping the sand turned over.

 

[milkton]

try the nassarius snails and the cerith snails,

the nassarius shifts the sand so algae would be harder to grow while the cerith snails actually eat the algae out of the sand.

 

[Buddyboy67]

Alond with the use of these snails try a sandsifting starfish or one of the gobies, lots out there..bluecheek, twinspot, chalk, court jester, etc....larger hermits like the blueknuckles will also turn over the surface sand, any loose detritus being lifted up into your current and dispersed

also, aim a power head to blow across the surface of the sand....