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Mark Peterson 
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 Topic: detritus prevention & removal
Posted: June 19 2002 at 11:26am |
How important is it to remove detritus from the tank bottom and the crude collecting on the rocks?
What can be done to keep detritus from accumulating?
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Posted: June 24 2002 at 1:41pm |
Mark, (and everyone else)
I think this is a great question!!!! I have strong feelings on it.
I don't think it is the least bit necessary to remove detritus. One reason is because it is natural. Too often (in my beliefs) people are trying to make beautiful reef tanks, instead of natural reef tanks. This is one of my pet peeves with this hobby. Natural reefs have a ton of detritus! Anyone who scuba dives or has collected around reefs has seen this. You can wave your hand over the corals and tons of junk comes floating out as a cloud.
Just because it is natural doesn't make it beneficial, but I don't mind it. There are those out there who argue that detritus is a good thing because it has incredible surface area for bacteria. Others say it smothers the rock and substrate. The best way to get rid of it (if you want to) (in my mind) is to vaccuum clean the rock, or use a turkey baster. I wouldn't vaccuum the sand, just the rocks.
Complete water motion could have a lot to do with this. The fact that we all under circulate our tanks is something else to consider. Try dumping in 100,000 gallons per second (or whatever Shimek says) and see if that fixes it ;)
Interested to see what everyone else says.
Adam
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Posted: July 15 2002 at 11:49pm |
I leave my detritis in. I do blow it off the rocks with turkey baster once in a while when it starts to build up on them, this also lets a lot of it settle out in the sump and out of the main tank, where it's a bit more noticable. I used to try to "keep it clean" but it's really too much work and it doesn't seem to affect the system one way or another. It all breaks down eventually.
Jeremy
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Posted: July 19 2002 at 6:19pm |
Are there animals that help with detritis? I think there are. 
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vangvace
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Posted: November 03 2004 at 9:52pm |
bump since I'm curious and just figured out just what detritus looks like tonight and I have a bunch in my 18 gallon
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McGuire AFB, NJ
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: November 03 2004 at 10:54pm |
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It's kind of weird, but my thoughts about what is good and not good for reef aquariums is always changing; evolving.
Here are some that I believe, that have changed from what I once thought:
Vacumming the substrate can be good in great moderation.
I don't really ever want to have any kind of "sand throwing" goby!
Sand Sifting Sea Stars can be good, if kept only temporarily.
Leaving detritus to build up forever in the sand is normal in the wild, but is not good in our closed systems.
Yet I still believe that using a filter bag or pad is not so good.
Edited by Mark Peterson
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smatney
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Posted: November 04 2004 at 5:31am |
First time I've ever heard Mark say that vacuuming can be good .
One thing Mark mentioned to me but not on the board is if detritus gets on your flat corals (i.e. toadstool leather) blow it off with a turkey baster - they don't like it.
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Susan Matney
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ewaldsreef
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Posted: November 04 2004 at 6:51am |
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I use several sand sifting stars for my substrate alone with a pistol shrimp and goby. I ocationally vacum and blow off my rocks. I have never had a problem with detritus build up.
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Contact me for professional aquarium maintenance and localy grown coral frags. [URL=http://www.aquatitranquility.com][/URL]
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: November 04 2004 at 8:15am |
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Adam Blundell
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Posted: June 19 2012 at 12:21pm |
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Bump!!!!!
This is a very old thread. In fact it is the oldest thread on the site. Still a very relevant topic, and now today it is ten years old.
Here's to all the great threads, topics, and friendships that followed...
Adam
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ReefOn
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Posted: June 19 2012 at 5:14pm |
Awesome Thread, Glad you dug this up because It would be interested to see how your opinion has changed, or NOT changed on this subject. Adam, was that you as Guests?
I agree that there is a lot of detritus buildup in the wild, but there are also Thousands/No, Millions/No Billions of gallons of water that spread the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels. In our closed systems I think it is more important to remove the detritus before it starts to break down and release ammonia. As mentioned above, flow is very important in an aquarium:
Complete water motion could have a lot to do with this. The fact that we all under circulate our tanks is something else to consider. Try dumping in 100,000 gallons per second (or whatever Shimek says) and see if that fixes it ;) |
If there is enough flow in the tank, the detritus will not build up on the sand bed, nor on the rocks. The flow will help move the detritus up and out through the overflow->to the filter sock->to the skimmer to be removed. After the detritus starts to break down, the best removal is through bacterial filtration (ie Live Rock or Live Sand), Refugium and water changes.
Fighting Detritus is the base of aquarium maintenance. It is the cause of most of the problem algae. This is why I have a job. Basically I clean up (fish) poo for a living, lol.
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: June 19 2012 at 8:31pm |
"Here's to all the great threads, topics, and friendships that followed..."  Cleaning fish poo for a living is a respectable vocation.  Thanks Adam for bringing this forward. Wow, what a difference from today. It took more than 2 years for that thread to be 5 posts long! I guess I have to say that I am more in favor of floss bags today than I was then. Also, for me, occasional stirring to refresh the sand bed is now preferred over vacuuming, since it feeds all inverts and small fish. And now we have the best sand cleaners ever - Sand Sifting Cucumbers.
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CrimsRayne
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Posted: June 20 2012 at 12:06am |
I find this very interesting as I just took down a 210g with a 55g refugium that had a LOT of detritus under all the macro. I was very tempted to take the detritus which was full of pods as I emptied the tank, but was concerned about the impact of the detritus to the "new" tank's sump and therefore main tank. SO, I put forth another question... Can taking pod and detritus filled water and adding it to the sump of another tank crash the tank, cause a cycle, or have any other negative repercussions? (The tank in this theoretical question is 180g with a 55g sump )
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: June 20 2012 at 3:28pm |
A lot can be done to 180+55 gallons of water without serious repercussions! If you consider what I said above about preferring the storm that is created when stirring the sand because of how the resulting storm of detritus feeds the tank, it may become clear that what you are suggesting is a totally positive thing. What is not eaten hopefully stays suspended and is collected by the floss bag. The only situation where a problem would develop is where the tank is too new or too small to handle a large influx of food. Does that make sense? 
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