I know, stupid title but I didn't know what else to call it.
I just had to move a piece of coral in my tank and by doing so I had to stir up the gravel. (yes I have gravel) When I do that there is a slight dust or detritus storm which I know benefits the corals. As I was looking at the tank I noticed something that newer tanks may not experience. I forget about these things because I always see them and I figure they are normal but I figured I would post it anyway.
In my tank there are dozens of these small coiled up worms that have become part of the rockwork and can not be removed. (I think these are sponge worms, but don't quote me) I pay little attention to them and never see them do anything, but when I stir the gravel, the tank becomes encased in "spider webs" of sticky threads that are exuded from these tiny organisms. In 5 minutes, when the tank clears up and the storm dissapates all that is left is these 10" long strands that are slowly pulled into the animal where the meal is digested.
Normally the water is crystal clear and you can see nothing emerging from these worms.
These unassuming animals are one reason I am not a fan of a sterile tank.
Many animals that we really don't see or don't pay any attention to feed in this manner. If it were not for detritus, these worms and many corals, clams and microscope life would not exist. Some of these animals are at the bottom of the food chain and a healthy eco system depends on them.
I think most of us hobbiests are much more interested in the easier to see things like fish but I find the unusual parts of the hobby to be much more interesting. :hat:
I just had to move a piece of coral in my tank and by doing so I had to stir up the gravel. (yes I have gravel) When I do that there is a slight dust or detritus storm which I know benefits the corals. As I was looking at the tank I noticed something that newer tanks may not experience. I forget about these things because I always see them and I figure they are normal but I figured I would post it anyway.
In my tank there are dozens of these small coiled up worms that have become part of the rockwork and can not be removed. (I think these are sponge worms, but don't quote me) I pay little attention to them and never see them do anything, but when I stir the gravel, the tank becomes encased in "spider webs" of sticky threads that are exuded from these tiny organisms. In 5 minutes, when the tank clears up and the storm dissapates all that is left is these 10" long strands that are slowly pulled into the animal where the meal is digested.
Normally the water is crystal clear and you can see nothing emerging from these worms.
These unassuming animals are one reason I am not a fan of a sterile tank.
Many animals that we really don't see or don't pay any attention to feed in this manner. If it were not for detritus, these worms and many corals, clams and microscope life would not exist. Some of these animals are at the bottom of the food chain and a healthy eco system depends on them.
I think most of us hobbiests are much more interested in the easier to see things like fish but I find the unusual parts of the hobby to be much more interesting. :hat:
One thing to keep in mind is a "sterile tank" may not necessarily be as "sterile" as you may think it is although it may just appear that way. What we aim for in our tanks (well all of mine atleast) is good flow to keep detritus in suspension at all times to be either filtered out or used up by corals or whoever wants to feed on it. In a tank like the 38 gal I had for example with a little over 100x turnover rate, if you were to get a powerhead or turkey baster and blow off my rocks, you wouldn't see much detritus at all lifted off of the rocks. Same went for this tank's bottom which I kept bare. The reason why was because I had great flow that covered everywhere in the tank so the corals in essence, were being fed all day as the rock shed. What they didn't feed on, found it's way into the overflow where the skimmer got a shot at it which kept waste/detritus down to minimal. Tanks that have in-adequet flow or whose substrate isn't vacuumed regularily, if the rockwork is blown off with a turkey baster (or powerhead) or who's substrate is disturbed/mixed up, will release this loose detritus that had settled over time into the water column (like you see in your tank) which the corals etc quickly come out to consume. The rest of the time, when this blowing off of the rocks or disturbing of the substrate isn't carried out, the detritus left in the tank just sits there degrading water quality so I guess it's how you want to look at things where being "sterile" is concerned. My tank I'd say was very "sterile" as you hardly ever saw any algae in my tank nor did you see any waste settling anywhere or read any traces of nitrates etc. All tank inhabitants were happy and healthy as I'm sure they are in your tank so I guess it's all up to which approach you want to take. I can remember seeing my corals polyps extended during different parts of the day when I wasn't even feeding them just as much as the times when I target fed them with food like coral frenzy which led me to believe that at those times they were feeding on the detritus that was blowing around in the water column.
