What is detritus exactly?

[harrylarry]

Hey

so what exactly is the makeup of detritus and is it inert?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Some parts become largely inert over time, but it is composed of any insoluble material that is formed in the tank, including live and dead organisms, uneaten food, fish poop, minerals such as silica, calcium carbonate, and others,

 

[harrylarry]

Some parts become largely inert over time, but it is composed of any insoluble material that is formed in the tank, including live and dead organisms, uneaten food, fish poop, minerals such as silica, calcium carbonate, and others,

Ok does it cause nutrient build up?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Ok does it cause nutrient build up?

It doesn't cause buildup (which implies more additions than exports), but like fish food, it can be a source of N and P that can end up as some amount of nitrate and phosphate in the water.

 

[harrylarry]

It doesn't cause buildup (which implies more additions than exports), but like fish food, it can be a source of N and P that can end up as some amount of nitrate and phosphate in the water.

Thanks, so more of an eyesore than anything, especially in a bare tank

 

[taricha]

this was an interesting thread on the topic.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/detritus-in-a-reef-tank.211272/
(I just now looked at the date on it - started 2015. )

Even in a tank without a sandbed - a majority of this stuff is fine particles of CaCO3 "carbonate mud".

 

[brandon429]

how do users of roller mats report such a drastic drop in nitrate after catching and exporting this waste if it's that inert

another handy way to test inertness: begin guiding tank transfers to not rinse any of the old sand but just move it over, and move over all the fish and corals into the clouding that is commuted into the new tank from the detritus stratified in the old sand. by page 5 of the no rinse transfer thread, non-intertness will be evident is the bet

 

[Rmckoy]

how do users of roller mats report such a drastic drop in nitrate after catching and exporting this waste if it's that inert

another handy way to test inertness: begin guiding tank transfers to not rinse any of the old sand but just move it over, and move over all the fish and corals into the clouding that is commuted into the new tank from the detritus stratified in the old sand. by page 5 of the no rinse transfer thread, non-intertness will be evident is the bet

I would guess. .
If the poop restricts flow causing the roll to advance to a clean spot .
the food and poop is not sitting in the water column and not having time to decompose

 

[GARRIGA]

Before and after pics from using a turkey baster. Tons of detritus. My N&P get as high as I let it without carbon dosing. No mechanical filtration. No WC. No skimmer. Overfeed two to four times per day. Just nature doing its thing.

No corals. Just fish. Testing decomposition. I’m not worried about detritus beyond the point it’s not aesthetic but better flow can solve that.

 

[mjw011689]

how do users of roller mats report such a drastic drop in nitrate after catching and exporting this waste if it's that inert

another handy way to test inertness: begin guiding tank transfers to not rinse any of the old sand but just move it over, and move over all the fish and corals into the clouding that is commuted into the new tank from the detritus stratified in the old sand. by page 5 of the no rinse transfer thread, non-intertness will be evident is the bet

I would imagine roller mats reduce nitrate by not allowing the stuff to decompose and release nutrients into the water. I’d say the stuff roller mats are pulling out are mostly food, not detritus. To me I’ve always thought of detritus as the leftover after stuff breaks down. If you’re pulling the food out and not letting it sit in the water (like a filter sock would) then you’re not gonna build up nitrate quite as fast.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I would also add that it's not just ordinary decomposition that roller mats and other particulate removal schemes reduce, but also consumption by filter feeders, which may be a much faster way to convert those same particulates into dissolved nitrate and phosphate.

 

[mjw011689]

I would also add that it's not just ordinary decomposition that roller mats and other particulate removal schemes reduce, but also consumption by filter feeders, which may be a much faster way to convert those same particulates into dissolved nitrate and phosphate.

So if you’ve got a ton of filter feeders (tube worms, sponges, and the like), they would CAUSE nitrate to rise by eating all that food (and I imagine converting to waste)? Or am I reading that backwards

 

[brandon429]

exactly what I typed is what roller mats remove. the food is complexed in with detritus, in a system without a roller mat, uneaten food is complexed in with detritus/. not all detritus is inert

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

So if you’ve got a ton of filter feeders (tube worms, sponges, and the like), they would CAUSE nitrate to rise by eating all that food (and I imagine converting to waste)? Or am I reading that backwards

At steady state, they are just a part of the whole food chain. Whether they contribute to dissolved N and P depends on what else might happen to the particles if they didn't catch them.

 

[Dan_P]

Hey

so what exactly is the makeup of detritus and is it inert?

It is a hobby term that is applied to many things and currently means nothing specific. Might be more informative if we start dealing with UFO’s - unidentified floating objects - one at a time. What material are you asking about?

 

[Pod_01]

So a quick question, can detritus impact pH?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

So a quick question, can detritus impact pH?

It can, but the effect is going to be miniscule and undetectable compared to other factors in a normal reef aquarium.

 

[brandon429]

there are hundreds of examples of non inert detritus online

several posts from notable authors like Dr. Tim and other authors mention warnings and their own loss examples, they’re searchable

if we study 20 years of patterns online it’ll become apparent that locus of detritus and oxygenation states make the difference

oxidized waste out in a sump, pretty harmless

but we can’t blanket that state into all forms of detritus, those from a sandbed can kill and that’s a tame example above. In our sand rinse thread we have some complete fish kill examples resulting from sandbed disturbance


where detritus is located matters in safety assessment is my strong takeaway from the logged patterns online

fascinating: nobody knows the causative irritant within the cloud

it’s not ammonia, reefs don’t store ammonia among hungry bacteria that metabolize it

h sulfide is always suspect, nobody knows what the kill component is though. Could be bacterial states of decay / lysed and rotted cell irritants / tbd

detritus itself may not be bad, but it’s hangers on / associates (bacteria complexed with detritus) sure could be what's bad

where goes the cloud goes the doom risk

 

[harrylarry]

there are hundreds of examples of non inert detritus online

several posts from notable authors like Dr. Tim and other authors mention warnings and their own loss examples, they’re searchable

if we study 20 years of patterns online it’ll become apparent that locus of detritus and oxygenation states make the difference

oxidized waste out in a sump, pretty harmless

but we can’t blanket that state into all forms of detritus, those from a sandbed can kill and that’s a tame example above. In our sand rinse thread we have some complete fish kill examples resulting from sandbed disturbance


where detritus is located matters in safety assessment is my strong takeaway from the logged patterns online

fascinating: nobody knows the causative irritant within the cloud

it’s not ammonia, reefs don’t store ammonia among hungry bacteria that metabolize it

h sulfide is always suspect, nobody knows what the kill component is though. Could be bacterial states of decay / lysed and rotted cell irritants / tbd

detritus itself may not be bad, but it’s hangers on / associates sure could be

where goes the cloud goes the doom risk

What?

 

[brandon429]

With that captured example of detritus killing someone's stuff, did that show an example of non inert detritus? It did for me, the first time I read it. It didn't cause me a stumble, what he wrote was clear to me, and to you as well. In this thread you can clearly see examples of harm and no harm from detritus.