Live rock in sump?

JurisHP

Member
Looking for input. I've got a 180g DT and large sump with protein skimmer, filter socks, and a Marine Pure bio block. My DT has approx. 75# of live rock. I have a ton of live rock on my sump...in pretty much anywhere there is space, I have LR. Is this recommended? It definitely traps detritus, but I'm pretty good at maintenance, do the detritus gets vacuumed every so often. I've always had a Nitrate and Phosphate problem...maybe I should remove all the LR from my sump? Or maybe not have as much? More is better? 🤷🏻*♂️
 
The more the merrier with live rock. Nitrate is more likely coming from the bio block. High Phosphate often relates to food input.
 
Check the undersides of your live rock. You'll likely see a variety of sponges. These cryptic sponges are essential for a healthy reef ecosystem removing the labile DOC 1000X than bacterioplankton.

Steve Tyree has been championing their importance for over a couple decades now and more recent research has shown only reinforced their importance. Here's links if you're interested in reading more:

Element cycling on tropical coral reefs.
This is Jasper de Geoij's ground breaking research on reef sponges. (The introduction is in Dutch but the content is in English.)
https://www.rug.nl/research/portal/files/14555035/13completethesis.pdf

Sponge symbionts and the marine P cycle
https://www.pnas.org/content/112/14/4191

Phosphorus sequestration in the form of polyphosphate by microbial symbionts in marine sponges
(Chris Kenndall had a problem with low PO4 and had problems raising it with Neophos. Samples sent off showed phosphorus crystals developing in some of the sponges in his system accounting for at least some of his systems consumption.)
https://www.pnas.org/content/112/14/4381

Differential recycling of coral and algal dissolved organic matter via the sponge loop.
Sponges treat DOC from algae differently than DOC from corals
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2435.12758

Surviving in a Marine Desert The Sponge Loop Retains Resources Within Coral Reefs
Dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen are quickly processed by sponges and released back into the reef food web in hours as carbon and nitrogen rich detritus.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279061640_2013_deGoeij_Science_Sponge_loop

Natural Diet of Coral-Excavating Sponges Consists Mainly of Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3934968/

The Role of Marine Sponges in Carbon and Nitrogen Cycles of COral Reefs and Nearshore Environments.
https://search.proquest.com/openvie...9d1e5/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y
 
Check the undersides of your live rock. You'll likely see a variety of sponges. These cryptic sponges are essential for a healthy reef ecosystem removing the labile DOC 1000X than bacterioplankton.

Steve Tyree has been championing their importance for over a couple decades now and more recent research has shown only reinforced their importance.

So true. Whenever I clean my sump, which isn't often, nitrates go up. I just pulled out a pond planter basket that I was using as a getto fuge to grow cheato and pods. It was in my sump for only 2 or 3 months and the bottom was covered in sponges.
 
Being that you can probably achieve the same results without all those rocks there's really no point IMO. It's kind of like chess. Why WIN in 20 moves when it can be done in 15, 10, 5 etc. Keep it simple. GL.
 
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