Detritus amongus

[PaulaB]

While surfing the net to try to identify what kind of animal is producing the fecal matter I find on the sandbed every morning, I came across this article. I found it really intersting and wanted to share....

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-03/rs/

 

[bozothereefer]

paula, great article. it definetly reminds us of what we are trying to do and thats recreate the most natural envioronment for our animals that we can. even though we can have detrivores in our tanks the one thing we need to remember would be to eliminate some of that detritus through proper husbandry. water flow, siphoning, stiring only the top 1/2 to 1 inch of your sand bed on ocassion , water changes, blowing off your live rock with a turkey baster or a power head. etc. as the detritus breaks down through the food chain, some still remains and over time can become a nuisence in the way of nitrates and or phosphates. if you have a sand bed do some research on them. if too much of a load is put upon them there can be serious consequences later down the road. (leaching) they can also add alot of benefits if taken care of properly. I run a barebottom tank because i find it easier through water flow to keep alot of the detritus suspended in the water colum for my skimmer to pick up. the rest usually settles in certain areas of the tank and i can just siphon it out.

 

[PaulaB]

The natural cycle of a reef tank is what pulled me in. (Hmm. Makes me wonder if I can put the skimmed out "stuff" into my composter.) I plan to keep things as close to nature as possible -- using a fake sun, fake water movement, fake seawater, and manufactured food in a manufactured enclosure. *cough*

Anyhow, its like any system: improper maintenance and overloading will harm it. Just look at what happened to NJ's beaches in the mid to late 80's.

I found another article about reef tanks that had lots of links to heavy duty chemical processes involved in the nitrogen cycle. I'll save that for a rainy day.

 

[bozothereefer]

wow, i kinda just liked the fish...lol the education i am getting is just an added benefit..... i had no idea when i started that there was so much you could learn from this. food chains, chemistry, biology, mathematics, the list goes on. i hated that stuff many years ago in school. lol I think thats what i like about this hobby, you always increase your knowledge on a daily basis. I find it more interesting than any other hobby around. and the fish are realy cool too....lol steve

 

[blueTbird]

This is a amazing hobby, Every one that sees mine tank just stare and says wow. Two of my sons friend have been bitten by the Reef bug because of my tank. I am in the process of helping one of them in planning a 29 gallon. The other has borrowed some of my books.

I love this hobby, been in it for (on and off) 30 years. I just wowed myself.

 

[bozothereefer]

im also trying to keep my kids interests. these are the future of reef keeping. im sure in another 30 or so years they will have some pretty cool tanks and equipment we never had.

 

[kabal2]

it is true with this hobby alot of times i remember school, too bad for that time was not fish in class, but yeah you learn alot and thats the cool part of this, but the best is the animals in it 8)