what exactly is detritus?

[crew]

So I have a general understanding.. dissolved organic matter...

If that is the case, is it fairly common to have it build up in my sump? My sump is usually pretty dirty, most because of detritus. I feel like this is probably a cause of most of my algae "problems" (it isnt bad at all) Would the standing detritus basically act as a nitrate factory?

I try and clean it about once a year (it's a real pain to get in there with my tank being a corner...)

Should I have some critters in my sump to get rid of the detritus? tell me about your sump livestock.

 

[enderg60]

its not dissolved, its basically anything thats organic and rotting. Think of it like dead leaves on the forest floor.

The problem is when it has a place to settle(like in the groves of rocks), where it can sit and rot. Thats when you get the effects of a "nitrate factory"

I tend to do a detritus cleaning every 6 months or so where I take a power head and blow off all the rocks in the tank and shake off all the rocks in the fuge and vacuume out the sump.

 

[oil_fan]

I figured out a way to clean it up fairly easily. When you're doing a water change, take a small pump with a hose attached to it. Mix the water up and kick up the detritus. I then run the hose through a filter sock with sock right in the sump so it just keep recirculating the water while pulling out the detritus.

10 or 15 minutes of this should pull out most of it.

 

[crew]

So there isn't some critter I can put in there to do this for me? Total bummer

 

[jhutto]

Oil fan's recommendation is a good one! I never thought of that one.