spazthecat
New member
Hi,
Several months ago I started having some algae issues that I just couldn't get ahead of. So, I asked the local reef aquarium guru and according to him, my sand bed was causing all of my problems and I needed to get rid of it. "It's one big phosphate sponge". It looked fine to me. Plenty of worm holes, no black patches and absolutely no algae on it, it didn't stink when I took a scoop out. The algae was isolated to the rocks and back of the tank.
I wasn't entirely sold on the idea of removing the whole thing. So, I began removing small portions when I did water changes. Over the past couple of months, I've reduced the overall depth by about 1 inch. So, the front half of the tank is about 2 inches and the back half is about 3 inches. Doing this had absolutely no impact on the algae at all. I would think that if the sand bed was this huge "phosphate sponge" the algae should have receded at least a little.
So, two weeks ago I added a phosban reactor and poof! All the algae is gone. Obviously phosphate was the problem but can you say it is coming from the sand bed? I'm not sure you can.
My problem now is that the sand bed isn't really a DSB but I don't think it qualifies as a SSB either. Do I add more sand back or do I continue pulling sand out? I found this article:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/6/aafeature#h6
Based on that, I'd say it really doesn't matter at all.
Opinions?
Tank info:
-75 gallon reef tank with 30 gallon sump. Tank has been up and running for 4 years.
-Octopus 150 recirc skimmer.
-Caulerpa in the sump on a reverse lighting cycle
-Phosban reactor
-175Watt 15k MH lights x2; 96 watt PC actinic x1; 96 watt PC 50/50 x1
-About 1600 gph flow in main tank (two koralia #2 + the return line from the sump)
-Approximately 80 lbs live rock
-Oolithic sand bed now 2-3 inches deep (was 3-4 inches)
-Tank parameters are all normal (Salifert and API test kits)
Several months ago I started having some algae issues that I just couldn't get ahead of. So, I asked the local reef aquarium guru and according to him, my sand bed was causing all of my problems and I needed to get rid of it. "It's one big phosphate sponge". It looked fine to me. Plenty of worm holes, no black patches and absolutely no algae on it, it didn't stink when I took a scoop out. The algae was isolated to the rocks and back of the tank.
I wasn't entirely sold on the idea of removing the whole thing. So, I began removing small portions when I did water changes. Over the past couple of months, I've reduced the overall depth by about 1 inch. So, the front half of the tank is about 2 inches and the back half is about 3 inches. Doing this had absolutely no impact on the algae at all. I would think that if the sand bed was this huge "phosphate sponge" the algae should have receded at least a little.
So, two weeks ago I added a phosban reactor and poof! All the algae is gone. Obviously phosphate was the problem but can you say it is coming from the sand bed? I'm not sure you can.
My problem now is that the sand bed isn't really a DSB but I don't think it qualifies as a SSB either. Do I add more sand back or do I continue pulling sand out? I found this article:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/6/aafeature#h6
Based on that, I'd say it really doesn't matter at all.
Opinions?
Tank info:
-75 gallon reef tank with 30 gallon sump. Tank has been up and running for 4 years.
-Octopus 150 recirc skimmer.
-Caulerpa in the sump on a reverse lighting cycle
-Phosban reactor
-175Watt 15k MH lights x2; 96 watt PC actinic x1; 96 watt PC 50/50 x1
-About 1600 gph flow in main tank (two koralia #2 + the return line from the sump)
-Approximately 80 lbs live rock
-Oolithic sand bed now 2-3 inches deep (was 3-4 inches)
-Tank parameters are all normal (Salifert and API test kits)
