[Aloysius]

Is there anything that cleans up the mess or fish poop at the bottom of the tank? There is some brownish colored stuff sitting on the bottom of my tank. Also is it okay for the live sand to be brown/gold looking about a 1/2 an inch deep??

[leebca]

Welcome!

What is or isn't 'normal' in an aquarium can vary depending upon many different factors including but not limited to the age of the system, the kind of system, equipment, marine life, etc. Without more information it is hard to say what should or shouldn't be expected. For instance, it is unclear how deep the substrate is in your system so. . .

A substrate that is a deep sand bed may indeed have a top layer of 'coloration' above less colored substrate. But a shallow sand bed should be more or less uniform.

The best way to periodically remove detritus and other accumulation of organics is to siphon them off from the bottom. Sand cleaner tubes and siphon tubes are good for this. On the other hand you don't want to do this if your system is of the type that is supposed to handle these things. Again, it has to do with what it should be vs. what it is. Using the siphon tube removes the detritus accumulation AND water so that it is best done at the time of a water change.