I agree with Kenny as well. I am in the process of removing my sand as is. Everytime I do a water change, I will take some of the existing sand out. Good luck Dan.
DanW's 187 SPS Dominated Reef Journal
- Thread starter DanW
- Start date
I agree with Kenny as well. I am in the process of removing my sand as is. Everytime I do a water change, I will take some of the existing sand out. Good luck Dan.
Reefer08
New member
I agree with Mark and Kenny. Don't add the new sand yet. Let your tank stabilize for now. I agree I think the loss of the fish might have caused your Po4 to jump, also the stirring of the sand also would cause a spike in po4 especially since you have a deep sand bed. Let us know if we can help out at all.
DanW
Certified Stick Killer
Whew, I just got back from the Dodger game and I was going to add the sand. Glad I decided to check RC before I added it. Based on your all’s combined recommendation I’m going to hold off adding the sand.
Mark: What grade sand are you going to and from? What’s your estimate on the amount of sand you remove per water change? Lastly, what are you going to do about the areas under/behind the rocks?
With the new bulbs. My plan is to start off with 1 hour then add ½ an hour per day until I get back to 7 hours. The T-5s I’m planning to leave at their normal 8 hour time. What do you guys think?
Mark: What grade sand are you going to and from? What’s your estimate on the amount of sand you remove per water change? Lastly, what are you going to do about the areas under/behind the rocks?
With the new bulbs. My plan is to start off with 1 hour then add ½ an hour per day until I get back to 7 hours. The T-5s I’m planning to leave at their normal 8 hour time. What do you guys think?
Dan, Right now I am removing the #2 and #3 grade sand that I started the tank with. It should be as difficult as you may think as I only have a little bit of rock that touches the overflow. On each side I have about 3-4" behind the rocks flow circulation behind the rocks. I also have plenty of room in each cave to get a syphon tube in there.
I like the larger grain sand like by ocean natures and such, but when I assembled the tank, I laid down two sheets of PVC in case I ever needed to go BB. I am not totally sold that I will go that route, but if it means less maint, I may quickly lean that way.
I think we filled my firends 180 tank with 2.5 40 lb bags of the larger grain sand. Since its larger, you don't need as much in weight. I removed about 5-6 inches in the bottom of a rubbermaid brute yesterday.
I like the larger grain sand like by ocean natures and such, but when I assembled the tank, I laid down two sheets of PVC in case I ever needed to go BB. I am not totally sold that I will go that route, but if it means less maint, I may quickly lean that way.
I think we filled my firends 180 tank with 2.5 40 lb bags of the larger grain sand. Since its larger, you don't need as much in weight. I removed about 5-6 inches in the bottom of a rubbermaid brute yesterday.
Brian, for me, its a couple things. I am still fighting diatoms in a couple areas where my old sand bed was. My po4 levels haven't been below .09 in a looooong time. As you also know, I am not entirely sure what my future plans and if I can not find some easier ways of managing the tank, removing the sand bed will step one of my breaking down the tank for good.
DanW
Certified Stick Killer
Brian for me, I want to stop the sand movement and not sacrifice the flow. Right now with 2 MP40s and 2 6105s I got areas were the sand is really low (one spot that is bare) and I’ve got the powerheads turned down pretty low. I’m also worried that the shifting sand could cause a rock slide. I'm not sure I want to replace probably just add it.
I see. So do you think that the old sand bed is causing diatoms/high PO4's? Dan if you want me to take this else where just say so
.I had the same problem with moving sand. What I did is add large ARM media in those area's. The sand doesn't move any more... works well for me.
Brian, I am not positive as I have tried everything to get rid of these diatoms. I have a friend with much more of a scientific background than I do and he is also tired of fighting them as well. I am willing to sacrafice some browning if I can rid them from my tank.
The last time I battled them in my 90 gal was by water changed and weekly GFO changing. It worked but was costly. If you have a hanna you can test your effluent on the media reactor. That what I did and it saved me a little. Just a thought.
I've been running two reactors for some time; changing they outevery other week. The problem with some diatoms is that they are fueled by silicates and who else knows what. Jose Dieck and I are both stumped 
Good uck Dan. Thanks for letting us pad our post counts on your thread
Good uck Dan. Thanks for letting us pad our post counts on your thread
Ian
I <3 Corals!
Good uck Dan. Thanks for letting us pad our post counts on your thread
:lolspin:
Reefer08
New member
I've been running two reactors for some time; changing they outevery other week. The problem with some diatoms is that they are fueled by silicates and who else knows what. Jose Dieck and I are both stumped
Good uck Dan. Thanks for letting us pad our post counts on your thread
Sorry to take this off topic,
The carbon dosing that you dose into your tank is my guess where the diatoms are coming from. Do you notice tiny bubbles on your live rock? Any overdose on carbon source usually leads to brown slime and or cyano. The brown slime can be caused by the bacterial metabolism not being able to consume the carbon source before the bad bacteria has a chance to get at it, its one reason why I favor a daily dosing of carbon source rather than a weekly.
Its also possible that your diatoms are being caused by the sand leaching out po4 slowly I think. Their is a lot of different clean up crews that will eat the diatoms and also help keep the sand bed stirred which would both help get rid of the diatoms.
Overdosing AA can also cause it, but I think it goes away fast with a dosing adjustment.
Good luck with the brown slime. I battled it for a very long time until it went away in my tank. My cause was overdosing on carbon source.
Reefer08
New member
You can try adding a temporary small layer of larger grain of sand to help keep the fine grain down. I would eventually remove that fine grain sand though. I know it looks awesome at Ali's tanks in his store, but hes got a low amount of flow in those tanks I think?
Im removing it from my tank by siphoning it out each water change also. Ive noticed no stress to the fish or corals by doing it this way, but I only remove a small amount at a time, probably no more than 10 lbs?
Thanks, I have looked into that. The diatoms were around before the carbon dosing. When I have dose, its been smaller than recommended doses. I do not get the bubbles or cyano that you are speaking about either
Because of this and the fact that the diatoms form on the older areas of sand (newer sand in front of the tank does not get diatoms), that is why I am trying another solution to check off my list pf potential causes.
That is why we love this hobby so much. For me, Its because its frustrating and rewarding all at the same time.
saltyg135er
New member
How are things in your tank going Dan? Hopefully everything is getting better.
DanW
Certified Stick Killer
Hey Michael, not much change with the tank as I'm trying to stabilize it as best as possible. It seems like a lot of the corals that were affected are not coming back as I had hoped. I've removed maybe half a dozen over the last two-three weeks and there are a few more on the watch list. :sad1: The ones that were not affected seem to be doing OK as well as four of the five I picked up at CFM. (I lost the Royal Plum.) I'll try to snap some pictures today and thanks for asking.
ryshark
Active member
Dan, when taking pictures today, I'd really like to see the Loveli from cfm, if possible. I got mine the same day, it doesn't look like it has grown much, but it is startng to encrust the frag plug and the coralites are turning a little more turquoise.
DanW
Certified Stick Killer
Took some shots last night, although a little hard to see the tank is still struggling. The parameters 24 hours after the water change were as follows:
CA 440 (Salifert)
ALK 9 dKH (API)
NO3 2.5 (ELOS)
Mg 1400 (ELOS)
PO4 0.08 (Hanna)
Salinity 35 PPT
Temp 77.4
Everything except for the PO4 looks pretty good. I'll be getting some Blue Life Phosphate control and some Poly Filter this week and see if there is any improvement.
Dying setosa about the size of a baseball.
The puzzling part is some don't show any signs of stress.
CA 440 (Salifert)
ALK 9 dKH (API)
NO3 2.5 (ELOS)
Mg 1400 (ELOS)
PO4 0.08 (Hanna)
Salinity 35 PPT
Temp 77.4
Everything except for the PO4 looks pretty good. I'll be getting some Blue Life Phosphate control and some Poly Filter this week and see if there is any improvement.
Dying setosa about the size of a baseball.
The puzzling part is some don't show any signs of stress.
