Long term detritus management

[A Toadstool Leather]

What is your nutrient export method? besides water changes.

Nothing else really. I have no fuge or skimmer.

 

[Mark Gray]

Add a fuge it will export your nutrients

 

[Scrubber_steve]

Nothing else really. I have no fuge or skimmer.

Do you have a sump?

 

[Waters]

Should I add two smaller powerheads in two locations or one larger one?

If you can I would add two smaller ones rather than one bigger one (I don't know the size of your tank or the placement of your live rock)......you want them to hit somewhere in the middle to create some turbulent flow.

 

[Nicolo]

I have been having continous issues with detritus which has caused nutrient problems The tank has 1 fish and I siphon the sandbed weekly. However detritus builds up beneath the rocks and no matter how much I siphon the sand is still dirty. I use sponges as part of my filtration, should I use filter floss instead to capture smaller particles?

Siliphos in a sock and put in sump,it works,made by dupla marin

 

[Nicolo]

Siliphos in a sock and put in sump,it works,made by dupla marin

I had same issue tried siphoning,have clean up crew,do weekly water change have twenty five plus fish and coral Siliphos works

 

[Hans-Werner]

I think most "detritus" in reef aquaria is not of organic nature but mainly minerals. I think its origin are mineralized biofilms. In my theory this "detritus" forms due to the phosphate removal by bacteria and algae under oversaturation with calcium carbonate. Since oversaturation with calcium carbonate is necessary it depends on the carbonate hardness, the most important factor in calcium carbonate saturation. Phosphate inhibits the precipitation of calcium carbonate. When phosphate is removed by bacteria and/or algae this inhibition is overcome and calcium carbonate precipitates form. The biofilms are just a kind of organic matrix where the precipitates form, most of the precipitates is calcium carbonate. If you put some drops of hydrochloric acid onto the "detritus" a heavy foaming will occur and the calcium carbonate part of the "detritus" will be dissolved if you use enough acid. Under the microscope the quite massive mineral nature of the "detritus" gets visible. Organic detritus is more fluffy. If you use bacterial enzymes (products to remove detritus) to dissolve the "detritus" you will see little success since least of it is organic and only organic detritus gets dissolved by bacterial enzymes.

I think these precipitates form mainly under low phosphate conditions because under low phosphate conditions it is easier to overcome the inhibition of calcium carbonate precipitation. The formed calcium carbonate precipitates additionally bind phosphate. Your problems seems to be the low phosphate concentration.

 

[Rakie]

I guess more water changes are in order then.

5g WC per week is a LOT for a small tank. Most people with a 120g do a 5-10g wc every other week. This is not the proper way to solve your issues.

Nothing else really. I have no fuge or skimmer.

Not good. You need something. Be it filter floss / socks, or some bio media to help bacterias grow to eat up your nutrients. But nutrients in and of themselves are not a problem.

- You need to pickup two pumps for flow (I would suggest Tunze 6015's if you want to keep things cheap)
- You need filter floss, filter socks, or a skimmer. Skimmers do a LOT more than just clean the water too
- A fuge will help, but your gunk build up is from lack of flow. You need flow.

 

[A Toadstool Leather]

5g WC per week is a LOT for a small tank. Most people with a 120g do a 5-10g wc every other week. This is not the proper way to solve your issues.



Not good. You need something. Be it filter floss / socks, or some bio media to help bacterias grow to eat up your nutrients. But nutrients in and of themselves are not a problem.

- You need to pickup two pumps for flow (I would suggest Tunze 6015's if you want to keep things cheap)
- You need filter floss, filter socks, or a skimmer. Skimmers do a LOT more than just clean the water too
- A fuge will help, but your gunk build up is from lack of flow. You need flow.

I am using filter floss now. My filter has bio media in it too btw. I would rather use a powerhead or two increase my flow, do you know of any good ones for a 30 gallon that are not to expensive? The tank is 30 gallons, do you think I should be doing a ac every other week? Im guessing less wc's will disturb the livestock less.