Can a calcium reactor go sour?

reefslugs

reefslugs

Active member
My tank has been up and running for five years. All the sudden I have a problem with nitrates. I have done everything I know to correct it, but nothing has changed it. I've been doing a 10% water change twice a week. (RO water) I have been cleaning my euro reef skimmer every other day. I've added two more power heads for more flow. I have prouned my caloopra algea. I have just replaced my two 400w bulbs. I have been feeding my fish every other day with only nori on a clip. My tank is a mixed coral tank. (sps-lsp-softeys) But now I have lost several sps which I am soor it's do to high nitrates. My fish are getting skinney. The only thing I can think of now is my calcium reactor. Since some of thr sps have gone now, I've had to slow done the reactor cause the calcium and kh get too high. It's now as if I don't need the reactor. I tested the tank tonight and calcium is 500, KH is 9 dkh, nitrated 100. This is after I had to slow the reactor down. The KH coming out of the reactor is at 7.0 dkh.

So my question is can the media of a calcium reactor go sour? I have not changed it in over a year. I just keep topping it off. Could this be where my nitrates are coming from?
 
man i would think the dkh coming out of the reactor would be much higher. mine runs in the 50's. what type of media.
 
Your tank has been running trouble free for 5 years, now all of a sudden you are loosing SPS and having Nitrate problems?

Do you have a DSB? Or sand in general 2+ inches deep?

I don't know about anyone else, but this screems sandbed crash to me.

Also, I would bet that it is not nitrate killing your stonies, but phosphate.

HTH,
Whiskey
 
i wouldn't think that your reactor would be the cause of the problem. have you tested the effluent for nitrate??

sounds like there is a bigger issue here or something has caught up and it getting out of hand now.

like whiskey said...what sand bed...need other specifics.

have you tried AZNO3??? it is a bandaid till you can fix the nitrate problem.

provide more info please
Lunchbucket
 
You might be onto something

You might be onto something

You guys might be onto something. I have a dsb. I just measured it and it's at two inches. It has gone down over time. Maybe I should add somemore. Phosphate, well I just went today and got some new Phosband for my phosband reactor. I am starting to see some red syno bacteria and brown on the gravel.

I never thought of checking the effluent come out of the reactor. I'll try that. Now it looks like I don't need a reactor. I've had the co2 turnd off for a week now and my calcium is still at 500. But of course I now water changes also add calcium.
 
reefsluge - have you "recarged" your sandbed w/ a set of new critters? you are supposed to do that often if i remember correctly! when i had 2" i vaccuumed it to keep it clean.

cyano isn't a good sign would be the nitrates

IMO calcium isn't the most important part of a reactor. the alkalinity IS. what is your alk? how stable is it?

Lunchbucket
 
Cyano means Phosphate!! Cyanobacteria can fix nitrogen (create their own nitrate) but reqire phosphate to grow. Phospate is impossible to test reliably, the algae tells you that it exists.

Here is what I would do if I were you: Take this as it is.

If I liked sand I would take down the tank and replace it with about 1/2-1 inch of larger grain sand, setup the live rock so it is off the sand bed and syphon regularly.

If I liked small grain sand, I would take down the tank and replace the sand bed with a "true" DSB (4-6 inches) and plan to replace it every 3 years.

Since I personally don't like sand, I just removed it.

HTH,
Whiskey
 
nitrate

nitrate

How do you go about rechargeing the sand bed? I measured my sand bed last night and its four inches in the back and only two inches in the front. Looks like the front has really depleted. So I think what I am going to do it added new sand to the front so its four inches all the way around. I really would like to know how to recharge it then.

As far as takeing the tank down, there's no way. This tank is old and the corals are hudge. They have grown onto other rocks making my tank like one big pease.

I put the phosband in last night so hopefully the phosphate goes away. Then the syno goes away. Maybe like some one said its the phosphate that is killing the corals and then the dieing corals is causing the high nitrates.
 
You are going to have to remove the nitrate via water changes or through what Lunch bucket stated. I would scoop out your sand bed completely and replace it. 2" does not equate a DSB. You need a minimum of 4 to 6". You need to get that nitrate down asap. Whether you do 50% water changes or what, it needs to be done. At least shoot for 20 and then go from there.

You could add sand on top to give you a true DSB, but personally I'd just remove it.
 
Re: nitrate

Re: nitrate

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7624412#post7624412 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reefsluge
How do you go about rechargeing the sand bed? I measured my sand bed last night and its four inches in the back and only two inches in the front. Looks like the front has really depleted. So I think what I am going to do it added new sand to the front so its four inches all the way around. I really would like to know how to recharge it then.
Click to expand...

What everyone is trying to say is that your sandbed is holding the phosphates and nitrates in it because it is saturated. It likely needs to be replaced with fresh, clean, new sand.

In regards to recharging your sandbed, you are just looking to add critters to it such as pods, bristle worms, starfish, etc to help make it live. If you replace your sandbed with new sand, you should do this anyhow to help stir up the sand bed.

Good luck. Now, I just wish I could find some bags of Southdown myself.
 
You can use silicate sand and imo it supports a more diverse life. That's what I have in my 180 and for over a year and it is super white, clean, and I have 0 issues with ANY algae.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7624782#post7624782 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jay24k
You can use silicate sand and imo it supports a more diverse life. That's what I have in my 180 and for over a year and it is super white, clean, and I have 0 issues with ANY algae.
Click to expand...

Woah! That is the first time I've ever heard of that. I have always heard to stay away from silicate sands because of algae problems.

Now you say the opposite. Any benefits to using silicate base sands. I am very curious to hear a little more behind this

Thanks,
Jay
 
What you always have heard is myths. What type of sand is in the ocean? Sand breaking down into silicate is about as likely as your glass leeching silicate. There is a reefkeeping article about the diversity of life in silicate sand. There really isn't anything beneficial to aragonite except in a dsb situation. It can help stablize a lower ph but it very very minimal. Try to do a search on here around 3 am in the morning since the search never works on silicate sand. You will find amazing information.

This is my tank over one year. Excuse the out of focus due to a malfcuntioning camera that has to be repaired. I also have a ton of frags on the bottom that broke off during rock moving around.

fullshot.jpg
 
nitrate

nitrate

Nice tank!! Love to see a tank that has some fish. Thats the reason we all got into the salt water hobbey, right. What size sieo pumps are you running? Are they on any type of a wave maker? I should to run three maxi 1200's on a wave maker but then the big thing of tonze and sieo came about. I removed the maxi's and added one sieo 802 or 820 (which ever the 800 series). I like it but I don't like that its the same flow unless the fish swim by. So know I have the sieo plus two maxi's which are on the wave maker sence my nitrate has become.
 
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