cleaning sand bed

mister crabs · 02/21/2006, 07:47 AM

My tank has been running for approximately 10 months and is home to a pair of occelaris clowns and a clean up crew of snails and crabs. It has LR and a sand bed of 2-2.5". When you look at the glass you can see some darker dirtier looking sand 1/2-3/4 " down in the sand bed. Whats the best way to clean this? what may be the best invert or fish to sift through this and eat the dirty stuff? I am beginning to think that the detritus is the reason my Nitrates are higher than i'd like. Usually around 20-40 ppm. and i do 15-20% water changes weekly. Any products that can help with nitrates? I want to get this problem fixed before I take the jump into any kind of corals obviously.

bertoni · 02/21/2006, 05:17 PM

The darker-looking area in the sand is pretty natural, and is usually cyanobacteria or a demarcation in the redox zones. For a 25g tank, you could consider some cerith snails, if you don't have any.

Other than that, there might be other causes for your nitrate level. More information about your setup might help us understand the situation.

mister crabs · 02/21/2006, 08:16 PM

I was running the stock filtration that came in the eclipse hood. The carbon/filter pad with the bio-wheel. Dumped the hood filtration in favor of a fluval 204 that I only run one sponge and carbon in. HAve only run this setup for approx. 5 days so i dont think its contributing. I have about 20 pounds of LR in the tank and started with 75% aragonite LS and 25 percent crushed coral. Both have been in tank for full 10 months. Only inhabitants are 3 narcissus snails (sp?) and at last count ten tiny blue leg hermits as well as a pair of occelaris clowns. (added 1 week ago). will be using a sump when i gt the $$ and i am going to be using caulerpa (sp?) macroalgae in the top tray of tank where old eclipse pad was. (tomorrow). I do 10-15% water changes weekly. These are the first fish in this tank in 6 months.

atkinsg · 02/21/2006, 09:06 PM

What is your water source?

IslandCrow · 02/21/2006, 09:57 PM

From everything I've heard about bio-wheels, that could very well have been contributing to your high nitrate levels. If I understand it correctly, they store up the nitrates and eventually start dumping them back into your tank. Dumping that and allowing natural bio filtration was probably a good move. A good protein skimmer would probably help as well.

mister crabs · 02/21/2006, 09:59 PM

ro/di water from my lfs......i gets it for free!! hhehe
what is a decnt protien skimmer i could run that wont break my bank?

PatMayo · 02/21/2006, 11:10 PM

Mister crabs, I wouldn't he hee heee too much. Unless you have a TDS meter you don't know that the RO/DI water is good water from your lFS. When I was setting up my 90, I was just short of RO/DI of my own making that I know is o TDS. But the LFS that delivered my set up said they brought some just in case. I insisted on checking their water first and it was over 275 ppm TDS. Needless to say that water did not go into my tank. And the funny thing is they said they just changed the filters on their RO/DI system.

Maybe it is good, but unless you can test it yourself you can never be certain what you are getting. Your free deal may not be so good afterall.

Regards,

Pat

bertoni · 02/22/2006, 01:11 PM

You could consider a BakPak, a Remora, or a CoraLife SuperSkimmer for that size tank.

Ehgemus · 02/22/2006, 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by PatMayo
And the funny thing is they said they just changed the filters on their RO/DI system.

Pat

The fish store that i was getting my water from said the same thing, and thay did not even know what a TDS meter was or so thay say. there water was testing 260 on the TDS.

You could get a sand sifting star fish! for you sand bed

02/21/2006, 07:47 AM	#1
mister crabs Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Las Vegas, NV Posts: 368	cleaning sand bed My tank has been running for approximately 10 months and is home to a pair of occelaris clowns and a clean up crew of snails and crabs. It has LR and a sand bed of 2-2.5". When you look at the glass you can see some darker dirtier looking sand 1/2-3/4 " down in the sand bed. Whats the best way to clean this? what may be the best invert or fish to sift through this and eat the dirty stuff? I am beginning to think that the detritus is the reason my Nitrates are higher than i'd like. Usually around 20-40 ppm. and i do 15-20% water changes weekly. Any products that can help with nitrates? I want to get this problem fixed before I take the jump into any kind of corals obviously.

02/21/2006, 05:17 PM	#2
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	The darker-looking area in the sand is pretty natural, and is usually cyanobacteria or a demarcation in the redox zones. For a 25g tank, you could consider some cerith snails, if you don't have any. Other than that, there might be other causes for your nitrate level. More information about your setup might help us understand the situation. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

02/21/2006, 09:06 PM	#4
atkinsg Chemist/Software Dev Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Illinois Posts: 312	What is your water source? __________________ GTA Current Tank Info: 125 gal Reef, 45 gal sump, 20 gal fuge, SRO XP 2000, Apex, 1X250 MH + 2 Maxspect Razors, Ca Reactor

02/21/2006, 09:57 PM	#5
IslandCrow Reef Monkey Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Rockledge, Fl Posts: 5,759	From everything I've heard about bio-wheels, that could very well have been contributing to your high nitrate levels. If I understand it correctly, they store up the nitrates and eventually start dumping them back into your tank. Dumping that and allowing natural bio filtration was probably a good move. A good protein skimmer would probably help as well. __________________ All opinions in the above message should be taken with 35 ppt salt. -Mike C. Current Tank Info: I have a reef screen saver on my phone, does that count?

02/21/2006, 11:10 PM	#7
PatMayo Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Seattle Posts: 2,843	Mister crabs, I wouldn't he hee heee too much. Unless you have a TDS meter you don't know that the RO/DI water is good water from your lFS. When I was setting up my 90, I was just short of RO/DI of my own making that I know is o TDS. But the LFS that delivered my set up said they brought some just in case. I insisted on checking their water first and it was over 275 ppm TDS. Needless to say that water did not go into my tank. And the funny thing is they said they just changed the filters on their RO/DI system. Maybe it is good, but unless you can test it yourself you can never be certain what you are getting. Your free deal may not be so good afterall. Regards, Pat __________________ 90 AGA Megaflow (Setup 1-24-06) 120 Lbs. Liverock EuroReef RS 100 Skimmer 2 X 150 MH 2 X 96 watt PC Actinic 2 Clarki Clowns (31 months old) 1 Niger Trigger (Owned 6 months) 2 Tunze 6055 PH Current Tank Info: 90 AGA Megaflow To Be Mixed Reef

02/21/2006, 08:16 PM	#3
mister crabs Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Las Vegas, NV Posts: 368	I was running the stock filtration that came in the eclipse hood. The carbon/filter pad with the bio-wheel. Dumped the hood filtration in favor of a fluval 204 that I only run one sponge and carbon in. HAve only run this setup for approx. 5 days so i dont think its contributing. I have about 20 pounds of LR in the tank and started with 75% aragonite LS and 25 percent crushed coral. Both have been in tank for full 10 months. Only inhabitants are 3 narcissus snails (sp?) and at last count ten tiny blue leg hermits as well as a pair of occelaris clowns. (added 1 week ago). will be using a sump when i gt the $$ and i am going to be using caulerpa (sp?) macroalgae in the top tray of tank where old eclipse pad was. (tomorrow). I do 10-15% water changes weekly. These are the first fish in this tank in 6 months.

02/21/2006, 09:59 PM	#6
mister crabs Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Las Vegas, NV Posts: 368	ro/di water from my lfs......i gets it for free!! hhehe what is a decnt protien skimmer i could run that wont break my bank?

02/22/2006, 01:11 PM	#8
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	You could consider a BakPak, a Remora, or a CoraLife SuperSkimmer for that size tank. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni