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Originally Posted by Johnny Reefer
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Originally Posted by Beverly
They are the main contributors to the huge amount of detritus we siphon out of that tank each week   IMO, the added bioload of a large, well-fed predatory crab in a sump is not worth it in terms of the nuisance algae it will eventually produce. |
The main contributors? Sorry, but I find that hard to go along with. |
If food is getting into the sump, overfeeding may be a problem.
Anyway, I have a pair of ocellaris clowns and two cleaner shrimp in our BB 67g. They get fed liberally once a day. Between these four animals, all the food gets eaten from the water column.
The crabs in our 67g eat algae, both macro and coralline. Here are pics of the detritus we get out of the 67g each week...
This is the first pail of water siphoned out of the 67g. The detritus in this first pail is that which is easily reached along the back, sides and front of the tank by the siphon hose. As you can see, most of the detritus has settled in the bottom of the pail, while some remains in the water column:
On the left is new saltwater that will be going into the tank after the water change. On the right is the second pail of detritus siphoned from the 67g. This detritus has been blown from under the rock structure:
Now you can't tell me that two fish and two cleaner shrimp are going to poop that much in one week
My page on maintaining BB tanks for more pics and info:
http://www.lostmymarblz.com/reeftips...ottomtanks.htm