I have read that corals eat detritus and fish poo (among other stuff). Does it help to stir things up on a daily basis and get the "junk" flowing into the corals? I use a turkey baster to blow the rocks from time to time and I also stir up my shallow sand bed. Just wondering if this is helpful for coral growth.
Turkey Basting
- Thread starter Vinh
- Start date
- Tagged users None
Naiad
Valuable Member
I'm not sure from a coral stand point but it is a good practice to prevent large amounts of detritus to build up. This helps keep the water in better shape. I know my filter feeders love it too.
nervousmonkey
LPS Lover, SPS Enabler
+1 to Naiad. Not really sure if it directly helps corals but it will certainly help tank health. I try to do this everyday to keep detritus from building and allow my filtration system and sump to clear all of the crap out.
nervousmonkey
LPS Lover, SPS Enabler
It will help, especially with a nano. Make sure you don't have detritus build up or you will have all kinds of issues down the road. Let the detritus get into the water column and let the LR do it's work.
twilliard
Tank pests..
Bacteria thrives with detritus
Now what kind of bacteria I am unsure.
Maybe @Lionfish Lair has scoped this
Now what kind of bacteria I am unsure.
Maybe @Lionfish Lair has scoped this
Its marine snow! but if it gets too funky its not good.
All bacteria I believe. Different ones eat different stuff. (my current favorite study), from aminos to minerals.
Personally I think corals and prob fish and definitely jellyfish and sponges need bacteria. IE established tank. not just for stability and bio filter. Thus the failure of many coral and sponge types in aquaria, esp home aquaria.
But.
IMO IME
A hob aquaclear is really important for a nano unless you dont mind water changes or really limit feeding.
the aquaclear acts as an extra place for the bacteria to develop.(freshwater style) and a great place for carbon,(also the bacteria will colonize there + media)
I personally haven't had a nano that could keep up. (livestock choices? I like to feed, dunno)
The only successful no mechanical Ive seen in person was a combo reef/Macro-algae tank.
5gal dsb oolite 8 or 9 macros, photo synth sponge(bacteria eater), palys, zoas(producing babies!) branching gsp, small cuc, 1 fish. Fed pellets. Ocean water. A Home depot par 38.
he replaced the mech with a solid organic filter system.
Genius.
I've just come to this conclusion recently. Usually bad things happen when I'm messing around in the tank too much.
So far my nano is running nicely. However, I'm well aware things can change in a heartbeat. Still too early to know how far I can take this. Currently only two clowns, a hammer and a frogspawn.
Lionfish Lair
Renee
Detritus.... my favorite! What in particular were you thinking I may have scoped? 
As you can imagine, I've been chasing information about detritivores, for some time now. Dr. Shimek even had a class about it.
I'm not a fan. I do blow it around my tank, but for the purpose of suspending it in the water to remove it. I actually use a small pump with some tubing to blow off the rock and get the deadish spots going. That stuff sitting on your rock is creating little nutrient rich hot spots encouraging nuisance algae. There are indeed lots of benefits from marine snow in the ocean, but this is one of those times when I think what translates as great in the "real world" doesn't translate into great for our closed boxes. Our tanks are dirty. There's more than enough detritus in there WITH cleaning. If you did that once a day, what is that giving your coral? One slurp, before it all settles again. A "mouthful" of food, especially "second pass" food, won't do much, IMO. Snow is a continuously falling meal supplement in the ocean and that's not what would be going on in our tanks.
Detritus is a meal for pods which in turn feed the coral. So, instead of thinking of it as direct coral food, think of it as a way to feed the food of the coral You don't need to be blowing it around for that to occur and I wouldn't be stirring the sand bed daily.
As you can imagine, I've been chasing information about detritivores, for some time now. Dr. Shimek even had a class about it.
I'm not a fan. I do blow it around my tank, but for the purpose of suspending it in the water to remove it. I actually use a small pump with some tubing to blow off the rock and get the deadish spots going. That stuff sitting on your rock is creating little nutrient rich hot spots encouraging nuisance algae. There are indeed lots of benefits from marine snow in the ocean, but this is one of those times when I think what translates as great in the "real world" doesn't translate into great for our closed boxes. Our tanks are dirty. There's more than enough detritus in there WITH cleaning. If you did that once a day, what is that giving your coral? One slurp, before it all settles again. A "mouthful" of food, especially "second pass" food, won't do much, IMO. Snow is a continuously falling meal supplement in the ocean and that's not what would be going on in our tanks.
Detritus is a meal for pods which in turn feed the coral. So, instead of thinking of it as direct coral food, think of it as a way to feed the food of the coral
You don't need to be blowing it around for that to occur and I wouldn't be stirring the sand bed daily.
you did not. really?
Lionfish Lair
Renee
Maybe 10 years ago? I honestly have no concept of time gone, so I'm often far off on the guesstimates. I actually forgot about that course and there was great material, that I don't know where I put..... I need to go try to find that stuff.
wow. That is cool. Most of what influenced me in reef keeping is his work.
Someone needs to fix his website. broken links to great articles. Most of that modern reefers disagree with anyway.
Naiad
Valuable Member
I usually clean detritus off my rock once a week to once every two weeks when doing wc. I do have the benefit of a large tank that allows for use of detritus eaters such as medusa worms. If you deal with cyno or HA you will almost always find large amounts of trapped detritus is to blame.
if you keep it out it stays out.. Any means of export. mechanical biological chemical.
jazonPartij
Active Member
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2015
- Messages
- 310
- Reaction score
- 76
I used to turkey bast my LR daily but kept having algae problems. So I stopped and it's been much better. I'll probably start again right before WC
Lionfish Lair
Renee
That's the only time I personally did it.
