You're all nuts....well maybe.

[atoll]

So you probably have socks, filter wool, roller mats or whatever some spending hundreds of $ to remove detritus and yet perhaps you are going your tank and animals a disservice or worse still depriving them of valuable food, nutrients and pod life. I have searched and searched the net, read numerous articles but never found anything remotely scientific informing me that detritus is a bad thing and needs to be removed from our tanks and keep the water squeaky clean.
I even suggested to BRS they carry out some simple tests on detritus in an attempt to get at least some reasonable idea of just what detritus is doing to out tanks. They did reply saying they would consider it but had lots of other stuff to report on. That was around a year ago. Now if I was a conspiracy theorist I might think there is no money to be made from not selling prefilter material and equipment after all roller mats are the in thing with a number of companies selling their own versions. Of course I might be wrong and detritus might just be the devils spawn some would make you believe. Personally I think it's good stuff feeding corals and pods. You of course might think differently. I just don't see it after years on having nothing but a skimmer to remove some floating particles from the water column.
So are you nuts then?

 

[Dempsey941]

He knows too much.

 

[fish farmer]

Detritus obeys the laws of gravity..it will eventually settle in rocks, sand, under corals. Do you want a tank covered with brown detritus? Some will need to be exported at some point or you tank will have piles of detritus. Now if you run crazy flow, BB, detritus will settle somewhere else.....but it will still settle.

 

[HotManwich]

I don't run a protein skimmer in my tank, but I do use filter floss to pull out the large particles. The corals are able to absorb the dissolved nutrients from the water column, but I know they aren't going to eat any of the nasty particulates that float around my tank. Plus the particulates look ugly and it's an easy way to increase nutrient export so I don't get spikes of ammonia or nitrate. The filter floss is before my ceramic media in my sump so that it catches most of the gross stuff that would clog the pores of the media and make it less effective/ a nitrate factory.

I would say mechanical filtration is pretty important for my tank at least, since I don't really have another way of nutrient export out of it.

 

[Jmas4]

People go both ways. Personally I use filter socks because I see a difference in water clarity while using them. I will probably never spend hundreds and never use a roller mat though (too overkill). Corals and pods may feed on detritus but I find that there is no significant increase in coral growth because corals use photosynthesis primarily. (My tank is sps dominated; a lps tank may show more coral growth with detritus) And you just get a dirty tank with higher nutrients in the end. I may be depriving my pods and coral of some food but if I had to choose between water clarity and supplemental food for coral, I would choose water clarity. Because in the end, a reef is for your own enjoyment and I enjoy my tank more when the water is clear.

Good luck and happy Reefing.

 

[atoll]

Detritus obeys the laws of gravity..it will eventually settle in rocks, sand, under corals. Do you want a tank covered with brown detritus? Some will need to be exported at some point or you tank will have piles of detritus. Now if you run crazy flow, BB, detritus will settle somewhere else.....but it will still settle.

Of course it will settle, mostly in my sump just where I like it. Never on my rocks, some in the sand on the bottom hist where the cuc like it. After years and years you would be hard pressed to see any detritus on my rocks or top of the sand. BTW I also have lots of flow in my DT.

 

[atoll]

People go both ways. Personally I use filter socks because I see a difference in water clarity while using them. I will probably never spend hundreds and never use a roller mat though (too overkill). Corals and pods may feed on detritus but I find that there is no significant increase in coral growth because corals use photosynthesis primarily. (My tank is sps dominated; a lps tank may show more coral growth with detritus) And you just get a dirty tank with higher nutrients in the end. I may be depriving my pods and coral of some food but if I had to choose between water clarity and supplemental food for coral, I would choose water clarity. Because in the end, a reef is for your own enjoyment and I enjoy my tank more when the water is clear.

Good luck and happy Reefing.

Never had any issues with water clarity in fact far from it. I also use Oxydators which help polish my water.

 

[C. Eymann]

I ran socks only intermittently, about twice a month for a few days at a time, I'd put a clean sock on the drain, run nutrient export mode on my vortecs and Turkey base my aquascape. I think after 72 hrs or so socks can do more harm than good as organics in the sock begin to break down, I had a small powerhead in my sump to keep it all in suspension and prevent detritus build up.

 

[Jmas4]

I ran socks only intermittently, about twice a month for a few days at a time, I'd put a clean sock on the drain, run nutrient export mode on my vortecs and Turkey base my aquascape. I think after 72 hrs or so socks can do more harm than good as organics in the sock begin to break down, I had a small powerhead in my sump to keep it all in suspension and prevent detritus build up.

Agree, waste breaks down fast in a filter sock. I change mine every other day and I see a huge decrease in nitrates and phosphates.

 

[Bryce M.]

I just don't like huge build ups

 

[C. Eymann]

Agree, waste breaks down fast in a filter sock. I change mine every other day and I see a huge decrease in nitrates and phosphates.

Yeah I know I cannot commit to changing it every other day so I generally went without it, I think some reefers forget to realize that just because it's in the sock does not mean it's out of the system, after 48-72hrs they become nitrate factories, I feel it's much better to let the skimmer to remove these from the system entirely before they break down into DOC.

 

[Neoalchemist]

This is a really important thing to point out. Most don't realize the impact of changing socks frequently.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Detrious doesn't go away, unless its' removed. It does not feed coral, has appearance/effect of mud and looks unsightly.

 

[WVNed]

I am running a mesh sock. I clean it into a bowl and dump what I get into the new tank I just started.
It's full of pods and worms. Since I started running ozone that is about all it catches.

 

[S2G]

I dont need a PHD in detritus to know that if I export it my parameters stay where I want them if left unchecked my levels climb drastically. You don't necessarily need socks you can dump your drains into an easy to clean area where it settles on the bottom or through a refuge triton style.

As long as your parameters are in check that's all that really matters.

 

[atoll]

I just don't like huge build ups

Neither do I, well not in the DT anyway but sump is just fine.

 

[S2G]

Cool man your running a deep sand bed in your sump. Naw dude that's just my detritus lol

 

[atoll]

Detrious doesn't go away, unless its' removed. It does not feed coral, has appearance/effect of mud and looks unsightly.

Not sure where you got the idea detritus dossent feed some corals. Detritus feeds many SPS corals.
What's wrong with mud as a filtration substrate?

 

[S2G]

Mud is a tad misleading lol

 

[atoll]

I am.not suggesting detritus dossent break down. However at what point does it stop adding inert if at all. Also almost certainly given it will begin to break down immediately leaving it in socks etc means it's still there till you remove it. Still waiting for somebody to do some worthwhile tests on detritus to establish facts.