adding live sand

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MorayMadness

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Mar 18, 2005
Messages
59
Location
massachusetts
hello all. my no3 is getting out of control. im staying ontop of wc .

i have a 55 reef with 70lbs lr established tank 7 years old.

i have about 2 to 3 inches of sand and a top layer of LS

i want to take the rock out and water and put another 4 inches of live sand ontop. will that spike any no3 or ammonia?

thx
 
What you are describing is a true "deep sand bed". It is a controversial method to hep in NO3 reduction. To my knowledge, there has not been too much empirical evidence to suggest it works all that well. In theory, it is sound. The major problem with DSB is that they can trap pockets of toxic gas and, when released, can foul your water. If you are looking at this as a solution to your NO3 elevation I suggest exploring the possible causes before your resort to a DSB. test source water and freshly mixed SW for NO3 and evaluate your food, as well as feeding frequency and technique. What livestock is currently in the tank and what are your current NO3 levels?
 
ok . i have one eiblie angel and a coral banded shrimp many mushrooms and button polyps.

my current no3 reading is about 50 ppm. and growing. i did a 20 gallon wc yesterday. i tested the water i was putting in and it was 0


i just went to the pet store where my buddy works at he tested a fresh sample for no3 and it was at 0 could my tester be screwy ? i have the salwater master test kit by aquarium pharmaceuticals he used the same test kit that i have.
 
It is possible your kit has expired. I believe they have an expiration date on the bottles.
 
I would have it tested at another place to be sure. How often are doing your PWC`s and as Brian asked have you tested your PWC water for nitrates.
 
ok so i used my friends same exact test kit and it reads 10- 20 i think my tester is inop. . as for my pwc it tests 0

i just started to get back on my pwc last week after a long time not doing it ..

when i did do it i dug the syphon tube into the sand and alot of dark water came out into the drain bucket. i thought maybe i had released alot of toxic gas in my dsb is why my no3 went up .. but now im more leaning toward my tester malfunctioning
 
Hmmm....I don't know about you guys but when I do PWC I take the water out of my sump and not the display tank. I have NEVER syphoned water out of the sand bed before. MorayMadness, do yuo have a sump, fuge? What kind of filtration are you using? Also the lack of doing PWCs contributed to your problem. PWCs are something that should really be done regularly. My thoughts....HTH
 
for filtration i use my sand bed 70 lbs lr and a simple mechanical filter.

i have a protein skimmer and in the return i have chaeto.
i take water right out of my display for i do not have a fuge or sump i did once but the plumbing got screwy and didnt have enough money for another pump system but is in the works. i now am getting on my PWC i am doing about 15 gallons a week. thats about more than 20 percent since my 55gallon is dense with lr and sand for volume.

thx !
 
I think you are doing great. There are some folks that like to vacuum their sand. Personally, I don't. I think a good selection of sand stiring critters will help keep the sand clean.
 
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