Removing some sand?

[tomreefer]

I am curious if I remove too much sand will it effect my system?

 

[mcgyvr]

There is always some potential..Usually only a concern with deep sand beds and potential hydrogen sulfide release..
Unlikely to be a problem though in most situations...
Just siphon it out well during a water change to suck and decaying organics in it out..

Why do you want to remove a bunch of sand?

It does provide surface area for bacteria and home for various microfauna..

 

[tomreefer]

I think have too much sand and causing high nitrates

 

[tomreefer]

Now I guess will check my tank parameters later tnt. My parameters where:

Before tank water change.. a ton of crap I took out guessing it is dinos but waiting on microscope that I hope can narrow down algae.

Calcium 420
Phosphate 0
Nitrate 10
Alk 8.5

 

[mcgyvr]

I think have too much sand and causing high nitrates

Uuummmm...no :worried:

 

[billdogg]

Uuummmm...no :worried:

^^^This^^^

Sand does not cause nitrates. Too much detritus (overfeeding/fish poo) will. And FWIW - Nitrates of 10 is just fine, although you can get an artificially low number if excess algae is using it up.

 

[Uncle99]

Phosphate is never 0 in a tank, not that that's important provided it's under 0.1 in a mixed.

 

[tomreefer]

I understand phosphate never 0 but my hanna checker says it is 0..

My levels now:


Salinity 35 ppt
Calcium 410 Red Sea.. I do have a Hanna checker but a pain lol
Alk 8.9 Hanna Checker; Red Sea 8.7
Nitrate 0 API
Magnesium 1300 Red Sea
Phosphate 0 Hanna checker I always get 0 not sure why

Anything else I should check?

 

[crawlerman]

hanna checker can go down to o.o1. Seems odd that you always get zero. I'm wondering if you are not testing right or there is a problem with the checker.

 

[tomreefer]

Maybe I get salifert phosphate kit; I am going to retry phosphate test again.

 

[tomreefer]

Ok retested I actually did test wrong lol.

getting reading of 0.09

 

[tomreefer]

is the Phosphate an issue at that level?

 

[mcgyvr]

is the Phosphate an issue at that level?

Do you have nuisance algae?

While there are tanks that do just fine with varying phosphate numbers typical recommendations are to keep it at .03ppm but again that is far from a hard/fast number and typically one may use the presence of excessive nuisance algae as a signal that the phosphate is too high..

If you haven't already done so I suggest reading this..
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/

 

[tomreefer]

Yes I had an algae problem and took a lot of crap out of tank. Thinking it was Dino perhaps not 100% sure it was like slimy to touch.

I just added phosguard to see if this will reduce it.

 

[mcgyvr]

I just added phosguard to see if this will reduce it.

Use caution with that...phosphate is a beneficial nutrient required by marine life. .phosphate binder products can work too well and drop levels too far down thus stunting growth...

Typically phosphate issues are simply caused by overfeeding and adjusting your food intake is all it takes to fix the issue..

 

[tomreefer]

Oh ok thanks, I don't feed anything just have corals in tank. Planning on getting more corals and a possible fish. I like puffers but I see not reef compatible . I only have 2 corals in tank so far and snails that is it. What would cause the phosphates?

 

[tomreefer]

Actually it was the bottle after talking to Hanna rep, he told me to check bottle and indeed has residue I am guessing from the reagents caused the bottle to get a haze.