Phosphate Problem - Please Help

[Guest]

Thank you! I hadn't thought of that. It seems, however, that there could be some beneficial bacteria or organisms that could come from the beach as well.?

Absolutely, I won't go on and on about this one because alot of folks shun this.. However, there is a lot of beneficial stuff in sand collected from the shore. You will have to make sure what the laws are in your area, but I know in Florida, you are allowed to collect 1 gallon per day...If you do this, make sure you go out in deeper water and dive down to collect it...It would also be advised to not collect from around mouths of rivers, inlets, etc... because of some contaminates that may be there... I have collected sand from around St. Augustine Florida and it is full of all kinds of worms and pods and such... Keep in mind that this is my opinion... You can take it how ever you want, but I can tell you that the Ocean is in most cases 100 times cleaner than our tanks...

 

[NaH2O]

The experience I have is my brother used some sand from a beach for his tank and had a lot of algae issues, until he replaced the sand. Maybe it was just the place he took it from. Also, I've read people that use NSW treat it (I can't remember off hand with what - UV maybe?). So, I'm unsure if sand would need to be treated, too? I guess I just figured it wouldn't be good for the tank fresh, without having some type of treatment. Thanks for the insight, Darin and Timbo.

 

[awillemd1]

Once again, thank you all for the helpful discussion and advice.

What about post adding the sand to my aquarium? Are there any issues here, i.e. can I just add it without removing my liverock or my fish and inverts, or must I remove everything and then add it? :?

awillemd1

 

[NaH2O]

Some people use a long piece of PVC and put the sand in that way to try and avoid a sand storm. You will probably get a little sand in the water column, and can blow the sand that settles on the LR off with a turkey baster. Others like to rinse the sand first, but IMO this takes away the fine particles that bacteria like to adhere to. Hopefully others will share their experiences in this area.

 

[Guest]

If you are adding bagged dry sand to an existing system, I would rinse it as well as possible to try and not get a sand storm... If it is bagged LS, then NO do not rinse it. If it is natural or TR LS, NO, do not rinse it... Rinsing LS defeats the purpose of it being Live...

 

[ReefLady]

If you are adding bagged dry sand to an existing system, I would rinse it as well as possible to try and not get a sand storm.

I'd have to disagree somewhat here -- it is usually recommended (at least with dry aragonite sands, such as Southdown), to not rinse. The silt-like grain sizes are a very important part in the composition of a DSB, for the reasons that Nikki pointed out.

Re: adding the sand - I heard someone on this forum once suggest to wet the sand, and then freeze it in pie plates. Remove chunks of the frozen sand and place on the bottom of the tank. It will 'thaw' without considerably clouding the tank. I thought that was an awesome suggestion.

 

[awillemd1]

The silt-like grain sizes are a very important part in the composition of a DSB, for the reasons that Nikki pointed out.

But won't these small grains just get removed when I siphon the bottom of the tank anyway? :?

Also, getting back to my original question, now that I have brought my phosphate levels back below 0.03 ppm, it seems (it still might be a figment of my imagination) that the corraline algae is growing again.

awillemd1

 

[ReefLady]

But won't these small grains just get removed when I siphon the bottom of the tank anyway

You shouldn't be siphoning a DSB

Good news on the coralline growth!

 

[awillemd1]

THank you!

I have never read anything about DSBs. What are the advantages other than you don't have to siphon them? :? And are there any good articles or places where I can learn more about them?

Thanks in advance.

awillemd1

 

[MantisFreak]

There are people who like them a lot and people who don't. Here is some good info for the pro side of the argument.

http://www.reefkeepers.org/faq/cache/33.html

 

[awillemd1]

Getting back to the original problem of phosphate levels being too high, this article that MantisFreak supplied the link to is extremely informative.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/sept2002/chem.htm

Thank you again MantisFreak!

awillemd1

 

[ReefLady]

DSB's are currently an extremely controverisal topic.

Their biggest benefit is they are an excellent means of dentrification. Some ppl feel that they harbor bacteria and waste, and this can accumulate eventually causing "old tank syndrome" or "toxic tank syndrome".
I'm not entirely sold on this, nor am I entirely sold on the fact the DSB's are the "holy grail" they were made out to be 3-4 years ago.

We run a DSB in our main tank. It works wonderfully, however, it is too deep for my personal tastes - I just don't particularly like the looks of it. I am in the process of *slowly* removing it, so that it is just a shallow sand bed - approx. 1".

However, I do have a 70g refugium with a DSB. I do still believe that DSB's provide enough benefits for me to maintain a "remote" dsb.

I have a couple good DSB articles listed on this page:

>>"The Basics"<<

HTH,

 

[MantisFreak]

Glad I could help. I have read every single AA Chemistry article many times. I like them because they save me a lot of typing. They give great chemical detail but also seem to put things in laymen's terms.