after years of reefing i should know but dont..

[spamreefnew]

1. what exactly is dirtus,and does it cause high nitrates?(there was some left in my overflow,now i have a dusting of it in my sump where i cant siphon)
2. what is the main source of phosphates besides foods?
3.what is the best method of removing dirtrus from stubborn spots?
4. without turning my tank into a whirling vortex are there any ways to avoid dirtrus buildup in nooks and crannies in the future?


my tank had some huge dirtrus issues, i had a 1/8" layer of it in my 4"sand bed and about an inch of it in sump, my rocks wear clogged. despite 5% waterchanges every week,vodka dosing my corals never grew, after 3+ years of this i broke system apart,replaced all substrates,cleaned l/r,and replaced 85-90% h20 . just when i was all done and things wear looking good again i had the bright idea of adjusting the standpipe. it popped out! sswwiisshh!!! :( looks like i forgot to clean a spot! the overflow! it must of had 3lbs of sh*t in it. well i turned off the pumps but it was to late,,after all my hard work cleaning my tank was now a dirtrus dust storm again:( well ita all cleaned up again with the exception of a very thin layer in fuge part of sump. I HATE DIRTRUS!!! please help me avoid it in the future thank you

[spamreefnew]

p.s. i replaced my 4" of sand with 1/2" of new sand. should i say the hell with it and go bare bottom? if so, how do i remove the sand without making a mess again......i think if i have one more big mess to clean you will find me in a straight jacket :)

[luther1200]

Detritus is broken down fish poo, basically. Or anything that breaks down, ie- left over food, algae that dies off, dead animals, etc.

The main and basically only source of phosphate is fish food, or anything you add to the tank. The fish food becomes watse and has PO4 in it.

Many people blow out certain dead spots with either a turkey batser or small power head, then do a water change or run a canister filter or something like that.


The best way to avoid build up is to try to get rid of all the dead spots, or try to get it to build in a area that you can easilt siphon it out weekly or regularly. HTH.

[bobparker]

use a courser sand/aragonite and more circulation. I used to have this problem learned through trial and error. Redirecting power heads to keep as much as I could up in the current and down the overflow. Seems to me you'd want it to end up in the sump? vacuums right out or gets trapped in filter media.

[spamreefnew]

the problem with dirtrus getting into my sump is that the sump is at floor grade so i can not make a siphon and suck it out. my sump is basically one big fuge with a 1" sandbed

[goochesfish]

You can vacuum out detritus from the sump using a shop vac.

[mcoomer]

There really is no way to "avoid" detritus. It's going to be in your tank unless you remove all the fish. You can control it and where it ends up in your tank though. If you have dead spots in the corners of your tank you can simply siphon the crud out when you do a water change. You can eliminate dead spots in your tank that allow detritus to collect by redirecting your powerheads or adding more to improve circulation in your tank. That will keep it up in the water column and it will end up in your overflow and sump. Once it's there you simply siphon it out. I turn off my pump, stir the sump up real good, and then pump out all the water with a Maxijet and hose. It is the nastiest water you'll ever see but I know that my tank is clean.

Mike

[spamreefnew]

i like the idea of getting it out via sump now! shpovac/powerhead. how often? once every month/week? my sump holds 8 gallons when at normal level.

[acecool]

What I do is shut off the water return to sump and run main pump until water in sump is at the lowest and then use the shop vac. I do it once every six months when I do maintenance on pumps and equipment.

[Rich D]

What I do is shut off the water return to sump and run main pump until water in sump is at the lowest and then use the shop vac. I do it once every six months when I do maintenance on pumps and equipment.

you run a shopvac underwater? I know they are wet/dry but ive never thought of doing that...

Theres not much to add, try to get rid of dead spots, use a turkey baster, siphon it out, use a filter sock. I get some build up and dont usually do too much to it, it doesnt seem to be harming much of anything (mostly aesthetics). its detritus by the way

[noahm]

And yes, it is spelled d-e-t-r-i-t-u-s, although it is easy to see how 'dirt' would like to be part of the word as well. :)

[acecool]

No, its an external shop vac from Lowes with a very clean hose that I poke inside the sump.

[reefmatenate]

i suggest doing the siphon once a week or when you do your water changes use a small hose to suck the nasties out then simply refill with fresh clean saltwater and your set... detritus also can be taken care of by some species of cleanup crew critters

[elegance coral]

1. what exactly is dirtus, It's exact composition will vary from one tank to another, but it is all decomposing organic matter.and does it cause high nitrates? Yes.


2. what is the main source of phosphates besides foods? The build up and decomposition of detritus
3.what is the best method of removing dirtrus from stubborn spots? A syphon hose stuck into holes in LR during water changes, powerheads stuck into holes in LR while running a 100 micron filter sock, gravel vac's for sand beds, wet/dry vac's for BB areas
4. without turning my tank into a whirling vortex are there any ways to avoid dirtrus buildup in nooks and crannies in the future? Running a 100 micron filter sock and manual removal is the most effective method. Using a gravel vac on your sand bed will remove large quantities. Detritus will most likely accumulate in your sand bed faster than any other area of the tank


my tank had some huge dirtrus issues, i had a 1/8" layer of it in my 4"sand bed and about an inch of it in sump, my rocks wear clogged. despite 5% waterchanges every week,vodka dosing my corals never grew, after 3+ years of this i broke system apart,replaced all substrates,cleaned l/r,and replaced 85-90% h20 . just when i was all done and things wear looking good again i had the bright idea of adjusting the standpipe. it popped out! sswwiisshh!!! :( looks like i forgot to clean a spot! the overflow! it must of had 3lbs of sh*t in it. well i turned off the pumps but it was to late,,after all my hard work cleaning my tank was now a dirtrus dust storm again:( well ita all cleaned up again with the exception of a very thin layer in fuge part of sump. I HATE DIRTRUS!!! please help me avoid it in the future thank you

[spamreefnew]

thank you all. i will use all methods listed to fight this stuff:)

[Reefer2727]

Great ideas. Thanks. I have been wondering how I will get the waste out of my sump. I would prefer to run without a filter sock. Everything ends up in the skimmer area in my sump. There isnt a bunch of room in there but probably enough to stick in a little powerhead and pump it out. I need to find a good way to mix it all up before I pump. Kind of hard to get a good mix with the skimmer in there. Not to mention a lot of the waste in under the skimmer.

[J-Burns]

City tap water can be full of posphates.

[Chihuahua6]

To get it out of your sump just attach a powerhead to some siphon tubing and vacuum it out : ) I use a Maxijet.

[Reefer2727]

Amanda,

Do you just drop your maxi jet in the sump and pump it out?

[vikubz]

I have my sump sitting on the floor on 2x4s laid flat so it is raised 1.5" and I am able to siphon with even that small difference.

[luther1200]

I also am able to get a siphon started just from my sump being in my stand. Maybe 2"-3".