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Sand/Nitrates ?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by saltwaternewbee, Jul 6, 2012.

  1. saltwaternewbee

    saltwaternewbee Inactive User

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    +0 / 0 / -0
    Just wonering if these might be related. Had my 180 set up and had argonite sand and LR and my nitrates where about 0. However when i set up the 60g cube and frag tanks up i've had nothing but trouble with Nitrates...they are hanging around 40-60 at any given time. I've been doing several water changes to try and drop them. No change. Set up a bio pellet reactor and it's been cycling for about 2 weeks now. Down a little but not enough. Corals and fish are doing fine. Skimmer is a Aqua C 240 and it's been having low skim mate. All has been cleaned several times. 
    The only difference in the 180 and this 60 set up is i'm using sugar sand instead of the argonite. Can this be my problem?
     
  2. JB Veteran Reefkeeper

    Marion
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    +3 / 0 / -0
    Is the sugar sand not aragonite as well?

    Any sand that comes from the ocean should be aragonite.

    If it's play sand or something, that might be your problem...
     
  3. saltwaternewbee

    saltwaternewbee Inactive User

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    Its not play sand. I don't know the diff between argonite and sugar sands though. I use non live caribean sea.
     
  4. moneypit

    moneypit Inactive User

    167
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    Aragonite is a carbonite mineral basically its the name of one of the 2 common forms of calcium crytals that make up CaCO3, i.e. calcium carbonate. Sugar-sand would denote grain size generally in the .03mm-1.0mm. So yes they are one in the same. Play sand is a Silica based sand which some people have had problems with when using, i.e. diatom blooms and others have had no problems with.

    As far having nitrate problems with sand, the only thing that comes to mind is the sand getting moved around once established as a denitrifying base and/or is there not enough sand to allow that base to develop. In all my tanks I've generally went with a 4"-6" sand bed and never had a major nitrate problems, unless I went in there and started moving things around which would cause a spike.
     
  5. moneypit

    moneypit Inactive User

    167
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    You have any sand sifting creatures in said tank?
     
  6. saltwaternewbee

    saltwaternewbee Inactive User

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    Yup...about 40 sand sifting snails of all sizes
     
  7. moneypit

    moneypit Inactive User

    167
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    I was thinking along the lines of sand sifting starfish, jaw fish, something that's really going to wipe out the bacteria/organisms if you have a shallow sand bed.
     
  8. saltwaternewbee

    saltwaternewbee Inactive User

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    Sand bed is 4-5"
     
  9. Kpotter2 Expert Reefkeeper

    North liberty, IA
    Ratings:
    +7 / 0 / -0
    Is there live rock in the 60gal and how long has it been up and running? The reason I am asking because of Liverock dieback. It is very common and water changes are all you can do, but I would recommend Boyd's Chemi Pure and[/b] even if its long astablished. Chemi pure has never failed for me in saltwater or fresh water.
    [/b]
     
  10. Jamie

    Jamie Well-Known ReefKeeper Vendor

    591
    Ratings:
    +24 / 0 / -0
    What type of lighting do you have and how long is it on for? I've done my own experiments and for some reason I have seen that running intense lights provided by MH (in this case) for less that 6 hours/day I would have nitrates creep up. My 350 has no fuge or biopellt reactor, I used caribsea Fiji pink live sand when I set it up and run 3 400 watt MH for 7 hrs/day my nitrates are always under 1 I believe the lighting plays a part with the denitrifying bacteria. My sand bed is 1"-3" deep depending on location and I have a diamond goby and a blue spot jawfish that are constantly digging and sifting through the sand. Do you see any bubbles in the sand where it is against the glass? Again this is just my own experience with it. You can see by my other threads with the pics that my tank is extremely healthy.
     

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