hardened sand bed

[sticky]

What would cause areas of a deep sandbed to harden in certain areas? I know that my alk got high and I am bringing it down. Alk 14, Ca 400. Any ideas?

tia.

 

[carman9941]

do you drip kalk that will do it

 

[sticky]

No kalk. I have been using Randys two part. The tank is about 4 months old. It is a 180 that was made from a 75 gallon that was 5 years old. I started with a new dsb.

 

[Boomer]

There are a couple of theories

1. New systems often those using kalk

2. Bacteria doing it under the right conditons. We do not know how

 

[sticky]

Thanks Boomer, thought I was doing something wrong. No kalk here so it must be the bacteria.

Ever since going to Randys two part my sps have been on steroids!!! Glad it wasn't a problem with that because I am hooked.

 

[LFS_worker]

if it truely is the bacteria it is a serious problem for DSB...

Refer to "Sand Bed Secrets " , By : Ronald Shimek

 

[sticky]

I have run deep sand beds before and never saw this before, LFS-worker care to elaborate?

 

[LFS_worker]

these lumps are probably the worst things that can happen to a DSB Bio-filer they dont allow oxygenated water to enter into the organic area and encourage anoxic zones to form. These lumps are formed by bacteria that create a mucous substance the will glue the "sand" together. they stop other bacteria in the area from doing their job (nutrient export) from doing their job... thus instead of reducing nutrient load they allow the nutrient load to go off the charts.

JMHO

the best sand beds are the ones that are remote and not allowed to be disturbed by fish and other burrowing animals. the means for controlling the lumps are with cukes, serpant stars.

Brian

 

[LFS_worker]

for the record precipitation of calcium carbonate into a sandbed according to Shimek is " such precipitation is rare"

B

 

[sticky]

This is baffling at the least. My sandbed is actively working, trates and trites are at zero, my sps colors are getting better each week since I upgraded from the 75 to the 180.

There were only two places of hardening that I could find and they were the size of a baseball. I am going to monitor the situation and reseed my newer bed with some old sand and see if that helps. Also plan on adding some more nassarius snails.

I do have a remote fuge with a deep sand bed that is totally functioning with no hardened areas.

Thanks for the info.