Ryan, I will be very interested to know if there is a decrease in Cyano. If this detritus buildup is the problem, the Cyano should be gone within a week. How much and what type of Cyano was there? Do you have a pic?
Detritus is not only leftover food and fish waste. The clumps of detritus are made up of bacteria. Various microscopic organisms actually live in the detritus, eating it and excreting their own waste. This changes the composition of detritus.
Interestingly, detritus is a very good food for many organisms in our tanks. That's why hobbyists are encouraged to allow all kinds of organizms to grow. This is the cycle of life in a reef aquarium. Aquariums with a richer diversity of microscopic life are usually healthier. Too much skimming and the over-use of Ozone or UV Sterilization generally kills this microscopic life which would otherwise eat the detritus. We typically hear that skimming, Ozone and UV Sterilization make a tank cleaner, but overuse can create an imbalance in the cycle of life.
Many hobbyists have found that Bristleworms are a major part of the cleanup crew and that they eat detritus.
Many years ago I had a 15 gal tank located in a south facing basement window sill. It was connected to a system of two other tanks. The window tank was a refugium full of all kinds of Macroalgae. The water flowed from there down to an 10 gal unlighted sump full of live Sponge then up to a 3'x3'x1' 65 gal frag tank. The window refugium had some fish for a while but was left without fish for many months. It was during this period of no fish that I stopped feeding. After several months, I noticed the Bristleworms had started crawling around even during the day, searching for food. They had become very hungry. The tank also became very clean.
I observed Bristleworms ingesting the substrate sand. Sand particles would go through the Bristleworm's digestive system, essentially digesting the bacterial film coating on the sand particle. The particles would exit their body cleaner than when they had entered. Bristleworms are only one type of the many interesting organisms that help recycle waste and keep our reef clean and very alive.
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