Thickness of sandbed in reeftank

by **nicholas542** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 6:00 am

Hey I am having some isues with nitrates again they seem to be staying right at the 20 PPM range no matter what I do. I cut back on feeding, and cleaned the crap out glass to remove all the algae. Now I only have 3-4 inches of substrate total in the 40 gallon i got. Would getting up to a 6-7 inch sand bed greatly reduce my nitrate problem?

by **fihsboy** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 10:57 am

whats your water source? did you place your rocks on the aquarium then add sand........or did you put sand in and then put your rocks in? are you running bio balls?

by **nicholas542** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 3:40 pm

There are no bio-balls I use my city water because there are not nitrates, phosphates, or amonina in it. The sand bed was added before I got any rock for the tank. Then I bought all the live rock at once put it in the tank and let it cycle.

by **snowboss** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 4:40 pm

make sure you are "stiring" the sand bed either by hand every few weeks or by useing creatures to do it for you {Nasarious snails, gobies, sand stars, etc.} other wise 2 feet of sand won't benifeit you

i have 3 inches in a 20 long and a bunch of nasarious snails, when i stir my sand every couple months it's looks the same on the bottom as it does on the top, no compaction, no dead spots to breed bad bactierias etc etc

Boss

by **nicholas542** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 4:47 pm

I usually stir the sandbed with a net handle every week I don't like putting my hands in my tank. I have about 10 nassarious snails in their now, and a bunch of diffrent hermits. I'm still haveing problems with my nitrate level staying the same. I do a 20-25 percent water change week. I've tried everything I even had a polyreactor with nitrate sponge, and saw no effect on the nitrate level. Hopefully with the mods to my new filter with the addition of 25 more redmangroves the levels will drop down.

by **saltwaterpimp** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 11:34 pm

if stir the sand bed just do the very top dont go deep. with deep sand beds you need oxegen free zones.with proper water flow nothing should settle on the sand. i have around 4 1/2 inches to 5 inches of sand in the front half of the tank i havent had to touch it i think its ben going for a month or so now i have a ton of spaggetti worms in the sand plus a ton of other critters. they keep it stired good.
also with a sandbed imo small amounts of the sand bed should be replaced every 16 months..

by **nicholas542** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 11:51 pm

yeah i stirred in a little today and did a small water change. I waited about an hour the took from left to right in the picture: Nitrate, Phosphate, PH.

by **Snowboss4492** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 12:05 am

you know Nick, i have an API test kit and it's reading crazy high Nitrates as well ....i hav a newer Instant Ocean powder test kit and have run the test side by side and the nitrates on the IO kit are about 10-15PPM where as the API kit almost explodes, lol ----------so maybe API has released a bad batch of test medium and we happen to own it, lol..............i do have a nusance red algae problem in one area but i 'm treating for phosphates first but im sure nitrates aren't helping me ....i don't know what to believe sometimes

i have a new salt water only LFS opening up by me soon and i want to take a water sample to him and not tell him anything until he runs the tests and see what he finds

Boss

by **nicholas542** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 2:30 am

yeah I was kind of thinking the same thing I have a reef test kit that is newer. Maybe i'll use the testing chemicals for the nitrates from that kit, and see if there's a diffrence. If I find a diffrence I'll probably contact API too inform them. I would think if my nitrates where that bad for this long my corals would start to show signs. They show no signs of sickness infact they have gotten bigger since I put them in the tank so it doesn't make any sense.

by **fihsboy** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 9:14 am

take it to your lfs and see what they say. OR if you want rock solid numbers and the honest to god truth.......check this website out.

http://www.aquariumwatertesting.com/

I am kinda afraid to send my water into these guys.....there going to send me an email to the extent of YOUR WATER SUCKS! But I am going to do it eventually. I have heard good things about them though..

btw- this isnt somewhere your going to send a test weekely....unless your rich. But it will give you a good idea of what you need to work on in your tank. And what kinda additive you should be running that your not.

Thickness of sandbed in reeftank

18 posts • Page 1 of 2