Good, The Bad, and The ugly with Detritus in the sump.

[Mr. Tang]

I have A LOT of it and am wondering if this could be the cause or part of the cause for lackluster color, growth, and just overall crappy looking sps frags. I have plenty of LPS and leathers in my tank. I am wondering if having a mixed reef will harm the sps? I do run carbon reactor and phosguard reactor. Oversized skimmer and efficient Ca reactor. Water temps. stable and all other parameters are in check as well.

NO2 0
NH3 0
NO3 0
PH 8.4
DKH 8
Ca 430
Salinity 1.025

What say you???

PLEASE ALL SPS gurus chime in!!!

 

[Mr. Tang]

maybe mods move this to sps discussion??

 

[wicked demon]

Not an issue, but if its bugging you remove it with your water changes.

 

[Dave3112]

I just put an extra powerhead in my sump and keep it stirred up. some gets back in the display and the corals feed on it and some gets skimmed out. If there is alot you could siphon some of it out. But I have great growth and color doing this. I also take a turkey baster once of twice a week and blow the stuff around that the powerhead can't keep in suspension.

 

[ZachB]

I stir mine up periodically so it either becomes coral food or gets skimmed out. I'm considering adding small powerheads to the sump to help keep it from settling. Not sure if that's a good idea or not, though..

 

[ZachB]

I just put an extra powerhead in my sump and keep it stirred up. some gets back in the display and the corals feed on it and some gets skimmed out. If there is alot you could siphon some of it out. But I have great growth and color doing this. I also take a turkey baster once of twice a week and blow the stuff around that the powerhead can't keep in suspension.

What kind of powerhead do you use?

 

[acanman]

same here i run a powerhead in my sump to keep it stirred up... depends on how big your sump is? i use a aquaclear 50...

 

[Dave3112]

Just a cheapo mj 1200

 

[ZachB]

Just a cheapo mj 1200

Cool. Good to hear other's experiences doing that are good. Always a bit irritating to have it collect :squigglemouth:

 

[guppychao]

not to go off topic, but the color of the sps could be your lights. what are you using?

 

[Mr. Tang]

First off I want to say thanks to all that have responded so far!!

And as far as lights go, I have 2 250 watt 20K blue life sps bulbs and 4 T5 454 actinics.

So is it everyones belief that this doesn't led to phosphate issues in turn browning out corals and slowly fading away?

WOW...

OK what about this,

I do a lot of leather fragging and have my frag tanks tied in with my main system. Could you have too many leathers in one system? When I frag, I usually do up to twenty cuttings at a time. Of course I have a big carbon reactor for the toxins. Could this be part of the problem???

 

[stunreefer]

So is it everyones belief that this doesn't led to phosphate issues in turn browning out corals and slowly fading away?

It potentially could cause PO4 issues. Have someone test it with something reliable and accurate (Hanna Meter).

Regarding browning out:

Zooxanthellae that live in corals are brownish in color, and when they become more prominant in the tissue the coral takes on this color, hence "browning out". Zooxanthellae are flagellate protozoa that produce carbon compunds for the coral to feed off of via photosynthesis. Generally speaking, when the coral isn't receiving enough light, they produce more zooxanthellae in order to produce more food for the coral to feed off of and "be happy". Once they're receiving enough light and are "happy" they shed unecessary zooxanthellae and begin to color up. On the flip side, bleaching is caused by too much light... the coral sheds lots of zooxanthellae and turns light colored or white.

With that said nutrients do play a role in corals browning out as well. Make sure to get all your parameters in line and stable.

I do a lot of leather fragging and have my frag tanks tied in with my main system. Could you have too many leathers in one system? When I frag, I usually do up to twenty cuttings at a time. Of course I have a big carbon reactor for the toxins. Could this be part of the problem???

Yes this could be a problem.

When you frag leathers you should do it in an external container, like a tupperware or small rubbermaid container... similar to something you'd keep leftovers in. Keep tank water in it (enough to submerge coral) with the mother colony, and start your fragging. Place frags back into this container. When done place mother colony back into this container. Then perform around 10 full water changes with water from your display on this container (waiting a few minutes after each), or until the water in the container appears crystal clear. This will decrease the amount of leather toxin thats added into your display dramtically. Make sure to run fresh carbon in your reactor, no more than a few days old, right after fragging your leathers. Don't do too many frags at once (exact number is a ll relative to tank volume, etc.).