What eats fish poop and detritus?

[Ssdlm5]

I have tank that is FOWLR. I'm getting alot of detritus and organic waste on the bottom of the tank. I'm sick of siphoning it out everyday. I tried the power head method, but not as good. Anything cleans that up real good?

 

[Dre]

Add a substrate,out of sight out of mind.

 

[nycdominicanreef]

+1 with dre

 

[Ssdlm5]

What's a substrate? How does it work? Where can I buy this? Please elaborate.

 

[Ssdlm5]

Also, I would like to go towards more or inverts to clean this up. I'm looking at Will's Water World to pick up some inverts this week. Can you guys let me know.

 

[Imbarrie]

Skimmers eat fish poop. Other than that a healthy build up of beneficial bacteria will also process it.


Sent from my iPhone using Reefs

 

[OzoneParkGuy]

Tonga Nassarius Snail will scavange for detritus

 

[Dre]

What's a substrate? How does it work? Where can I buy this? Please elaborate.

A substrate is Shells,Sand,Crushed coral, Gravel etc.

 

[anthony27]

I have heard that bristle worms eat all that

 

[Dre]

Also, I would like to go towards more or inverts to clean this up. I'm looking at Will's Water World to pick up some inverts this week. Can you guys let me know.

What ever animal or animals you decide to add will contribute their own pooh in your tank and will no way or form leave your tank spot less.If that was the case every one with a tank would have them.

 

[nycdominicanreef]

get yourself some sand, then buy a clean up crew, snails, cucumbers, etc

 

[ReefFan]

heh, i dont know if previous forums were trying to lead me astray, but i was told several times that "corals love poop" ..any validity to this?

 

[nycdominicanreef]

Corals love poop? dead corals dont mind

 

[bubbles4]

heh, i dont know if previous forums were trying to lead me astray, but i was told several times that "corals love poop" ..any validity to this?

absolutely! nutrients are nutrients.

 

[bruce922]

My Conch does a good job eating waste. Any cleanup crew you purchase will do a pretty good job also. Coral...not so much!


Bruce

 

[OzoneParkGuy]

absolutely! nutrients are nutrients.

You might of taken the term out of context a little bit, but some species of coral as bubbles stated lol, do require more then the required amounts in reef tanks. Red Gonipora Species comes to mind. They like high nutrient. Hoped everyones answer helped. Good Luck & Happy Reefing!!

 

[bubbles4]

You might of taken the term out of context a little bit, but some species of coral as bubbles stated lol, do require more then the required amounts in reef tanks. Red Gonipora Species comes to mind. They like high nutrient. Hoped everyones answer helped. Good Luck & Happy Reefing!!

yeah meant to do a follow up post on that one! Wasnt trying to say corals are a good way to export nutrients, are going to physically remove fish waste or enjoy festering in a pile of waste. Simply saying there is some truth behind the extremely silly and general "coral love poop" statement. :fish:

 

[Master Shake]

corals hate poop, phosphates are bad. the more poop the more phosphates, there is a huge difference between good nutrients and bad ones like phosphates. Chances are that you already have sand or a subsrate in the tank. you just need a clean up crew like nasarius snails and others(if your tank is fit for inverts). Also get a good skimmer- asm make some of the best skimmers available. also try a good goby

 

[cali_reef]

You need good flow in the tank to "carry" the detritus into your overflow and down to your sump\mechanical filter, where they can be effectively exported . Not sure a hobbyist tank can support the amount of snails or filter feeder needed to substantially remove fish poop.

Another option is to have minimum fish load and little or no feeding.

 

[ReefFan]

You need good flow in the tank to "carry" the detritus into your overflow and down to your sump\mechanical filter, where they can be effectively exported . Not sure a hobbyist tank can support the amount of snails or filter feeder needed to substantially remove fish poop.

Another option is to have minimum fish load and little or no feeding.

exactly. Thats why they say you should either have 4 inches of sand or BB. In a BB you wanna achieve suspension by keeping solid flow along the floor, as ive done in my tank. detritus either winds up settling on rock where it gets broken down or blown back into the water column for another chance to make it into the overflow.

With the DSB, it gets broken down by the aerobic and anaerobic bacterias. Is that right?

I only have a DSB in my fuge chambers, one DSB sand, the other Mud. Poop will accumulate on the substates but eventually vanishes inside a week tops.