Detritus .... Inert?

[ca1ore]

It has been my long held opinion that the detritus that builds up in our reef systems is mostly 'spent' and that it ads very little to the tank in terms of incremental nutrients. I am not a scientist, and have no hard data; just observation and correlation, of the lack thereof, of detritus to nutrient levels. Also seems that the novice reefers fuss over detritus removal far more than experienced ones do. I personally run no mechanical filters (at least, not purposely) on my tank. I've not looked very hard, but if anyone is aware of any research on this topic; or if there are more informed opinions than mine, I'd be most interested in hearing them?

As an aside, I also find detritus buildup to be an excellent medium for the small folk in a reef tank.

 

[FartyParty]

I find that setting my powerheads to surge and getting all that fine solid waste into the refugium below takes care of it for me. I don't run a filter sock either--i just drilled some holes at the end of the drain line to diffuse the air (eliminates salt creep on the sump walls) and let my refugium crew deal with any waste carried down. Its a fairly new tank, but both my NO2 and NO3 have been immeasurable for months.

 

[madweazl]

There is a ton of it in my sump... Like you, no mechanical filtration and I make no effort to remove it from the refugium either.

 

[cracker]

I do clean buildup out of the sump from time to time. I agree it's a good place for the smaller neighbors. Interesting topics. I'd like to hear more OP's

 

[rosshamsandwich]

All my pods are living in the detritus. If I remove it, then the population gets decimated

 

[atoll]

This might be of some help
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/more-on-detritus.332385/
and this
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/detritus-is-it-as-bad-as-some-make-out.300047/

 

[Servillius]

It has been my long held opinion that the detritus that builds up in our reef systems is mostly 'spent' and that it ads very little to the tank in terms of incremental nutrients. I am not a scientist, and have no hard data; just observation and correlation, of the lack thereof, of detritus to nutrient levels. Also seems that the novice reefers fuss over detritus removal far more than experienced ones do. I personally run no mechanical filters (at least, not purposely) on my tank. I've not looked very hard, but if anyone is aware of any research on this topic; or if there are more informed opinions than mine, I'd be most interested in hearing them?

As an aside, I also find detritus buildup to be an excellent medium for the small folk in a reef tank.

I mostly siphon it out because I have some small frags right now that can get swamped if they happen to be in an area It clusters, but yes, detritus is mostly harmless. It does have some nutrient in it, but it’s not actually great gobs or waste. If it was it would be more interesting to things looking for food.