More on detritus

[atoll]

Hi Randy, you answered a post I made a while back about the fact I employ no prefiltration at all(I do run a skimmer and Oxydators with an ATS) and you replied something along the lines that neither do you and that you had 2" of detritus in your sump (forgive me if I don't quite have that correct) I would like to hear more on your thoughts and experiences not running prefiltration if you would be so kind to expand on it please. Thank you.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

You are correct that I never tried to remove detritus or particulates aside from running a skimmer, and a thick layer collected in my sump and refugia.

IMO, it may have been what prevented my tank from ever going ULNS despite massive organic carbon dosing.

IMO, unless ULNS is a goal, I'm not sure detritus removal is anything more than an aesthetic requirement.

In my system, the refugia had plenty of very low flow locations where detritus could easily settle so it wasn't a visual problem in the main tank water column, or even settling on the main tank bottom.

That said, I never tried particulate filtration on my tank (except in, say, GAC and GFO "reactors"), so I cannot really say how the tank would have been different if I did so.

 

[atoll]

You are correct that I never tried to remove detritus or particulates aside from running a skimmer, and a thick layer collected in my sump and refugia.

IMO, it may have been what prevented my tank from ever going ULNS despite massive organic carbon dosing.

IMO, unless ULNS is a goal, I'm not sure detritus removal is anything more than an aesthetic requirement.

In my system, the refugia had plenty of very low flow locations where detritus could easily settle so it wasn't a visual problem in the main tank water column, or even settling on the main tank bottom.

That said, I never tried particulate filtration on my tank (except in, say, GAC and GFO "reactors"), so I cannot really say how the tank would have been different if I did so.

Sounds good to me on a side note did you notice lots of pods in the accumulated detritus and maybe pods in general? Thanks.

 

[bif24701]

What kind of stuff would be in this detritus. I have some in only my chaeto 40 breeder fuge. Doesn't seem to break down any further or consumed by anything. My Nitrates are not high, in fact I've had to added NO3 every month or so.

 

[brandon429]

fantastic test


It wasn't long ago people posted the makeup of skimmate from an average tank, it had a measurable organic component though not sky high interestingly in the details. I wonder how detritus compares in overall weight to the tank

most of the tanks like Paul's and Randy's have some dilution to help out, when tanks get smaller and smaller the impact of detritus left in system becomes notable, so I don't think the mulm itself can be inert though I haven't seen studies on it. another inversion we get in the ultra clean nano and pico reefs is no other supports are needed other than the clean tank condition to last a very long time/ the number of situations we cure just by removing and sustaining all detritus out of old sandbeds is also numerable, with smaller tanks again showing more issues

somehow that dilution factor is helping to offset. we lose tanks in sandbed rinses when partial rinsing happens, they get a cycle. the ones that rinse thoroughly retaining no detritus always skip cycle, to me there are some aspects of detritus that are a clear liability, dictated by overall volume most likely. I know that mulm is marine snow and generally good in nature, we do lots of avoidance of detritus in working with small tanks however.

Then there's Sanjay's nano which was about 20 yrs old with an unexported bed; its a stat outlier. Try that on most nanos and the cyano alone by month 36 w cause a takedown.

 

[WesleyC]

Sounds good to me on a side note did you notice lots of pods in the accumulated detritus and maybe pods in general? Thanks.

I don't know about other people, but mine does. I have certain dead spot that had accumulated detritus and you can see the pods partying in there. But the accumulated detritus do not last long, after awhile, they all got eaten up, and pops gone to somewhere else (or died in the area). So it pipes up again, and pods again. It's a cycle in mine.

 

[rosshamsandwich]

followe
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[Cory]

My anectdotal experience is that after removing detritus from the sump the tank organisms seem happier.

Ive also shut down a tank and left a powerhead, lighting and detritus at the bottom. No algae grew despite having detritus.

 

[rosshamsandwich]

MY ANECDOTAL EXPERIENCE IS REMOVING DETRITUS RESULTS IN LESS COPEPODS