Some nooby questions.

[Charlie the Reefer]

Hey everyone

A couple newby unrelated questions for everyone. I promise I really tried looking around for the answer to these but couldn't find anything good. I would really appreciate any reading material / info sources on any of the questions below. I don't mind long reads or understanding the detailed chemistry mechanisms behind this stuff.

a) The role of activated carbon. Just seems like everyone accepts that carbon takes out "toxins" that we can't measure, and helps improve overall water quality. It's palatable for me to dose alkalinity every day, run chaeto in my refugium, or use GFO because I can easily measure the product of each of those actions. Carbon just seems like such a black box to me. Is there anyone who has a more detailed, granular understanding of what's going on with Carbon, and how it influences coral health? "Just throw it in when the water is yellow, or your coral is ticked, or once a month" doesn't do it for me... But hey if that's all we got it is what it is.

b) Why do you want to remove detritus? Most of the "more experienced" guys in the hobby I've stumbled upon run bare bottoms, have great flow, no dead spots etc to keep everything suspended. That or they just do regular siphons of sump and sandbed. What's the purpose of that. If your bio filter, skimmer, socks, export methods etc are good enough, does it matter?


Appreciate the answers to the above two questions. Thankful to have this knowledgeable community.

Happy holidays everyone,

Charlie

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

As for the first question, I can't give you anything there as I don't understand the molecular way it works. What I do know is that we are keeping very small boxes of water, filled with living things, without the ability to dilute pollution.

Pollution comes in many forms. Lacking the ability to dilute, blanket removal is the second best option, which carbon does. The proof is in the visual pudding so to speak.

So far as removing detritis, the purpose is to control dissolve nutrients and organics within your water. That little pile of fish poo hanging out in a dead spot isn't currently dissolved.. It will be.

I would guess more of us deal with elevated nutrients then too few.

Bare bottom high flow tanks (which are usually acropora dominated) run on the lowest end of nutrients out of the major choral groups. It also keeps the water generally cleaner, and clearer.

 

[mdb_talon]

There is tons of information about the use of activated carbon to control pollutants that go way beyond the reef hobby so I personally consider it settled that is a function it does well. The harder thing in a reef tank is measuring what pollutants we may have that need removed ...which is why I think it is often advised to do "when things look ticked or just occassionally". I don't personally consider that a bad thing I just consider it a treatment that may or may not be needed to control some of the countless unknowns that may exist in our system. Personally I run carbon every fee months for a couple weeks at a time. I try to find that balance of safely removing unknowns that may be in the water while also realizing the carbon 24/7 can also cause it's own issues.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

In addition to all the above, detritus will also clog up all the millions of tiny holes and tunnels in your live rock, which decreases the overall surface area available for nitrifying bacteria, and decreases nitrifying ability.

Its very important to occassionally use a baster and blow all the detritus out of your rocks before the water change. Notice all the nastiness that comes out of there, and then think of how much that would build up over the years if it was never cleaned.

 

[Charlie the Reefer]

In addition to all the above, detritus will also clog up all the millions of tiny holes and tunnels in your live rock, which decreases the overall surface area available for nitrifying bacteria, and decreases nitrifying ability.

Its very important to occassionally use a baster and blow all the detritus out of your rocks before the water change. Notice all the nastiness that comes out of there, and then think of how much that would build up over the years if it was never cleaned.

Appreciate this tip.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

I promise I really tried looking around for the answer to these but couldn't find anything good.

Please don't ever hesitate to ask questions. Even questions that have been answered many times are still good to post because new people are reading. If someone gives you a hard time about asking questions just use the report post button!