[reefdope]

I've heard suggestions that you should use your turkey baster in order to get the detritus "off the live rocks and into the water column, where the filters can do their job"...(what the mechanical filter?)...uh, I thought the live rock was the filter??? Does anyone do this and does it really help?

[eses]

Many of us do it. Alot of us do it before doing a water change, so you can easily remove some of the detritus from the tank.

The LR is mainly a biological filter, while alot of the detritus is processed by the sand bed, it can be removed quicker by mechanical filtration of some kind. I do it only when doing water changes, and at no other time.

I think it helps as it gets the stuff out of the tank faster, and off the rocks.

[organicreefer]

the reason alot of us blast the rocks with a baster/powerhead is because the water flow in the tank stays the same-and detritus finds the spots in the rock/tank where it can settle.
with the baster you can go around the tank every week or two and simulate a strong storm of sorts-and blast water where it normally doesnt get to ,putting the detritus in supension for the filter feeders and /or before a water change.