nitrate issues...sand cause?

[saltwaternewbee]

I've had my 180 up and running for over a year now and decided to downsize. (Volume and fish) only have 10 fish no bigger then 2" for a little over 200g water volume. The 180 had no issues with nitrates. I ran argonite and all was good. Took all the water and used it for the new set up. Decided to use sugar sand and since the beginning (7months now) I've had nitrate issues around 40-60 ppm. Been doing water changes and set up a bio pellet reactor trying to knock them down. No change. As stated the only change I have done is use sugar sand vs argonite.

Can this be the cause or something else i'm overlooking?

 

[ritter6788]

How deep is the sand? Have you tried vacuuming it when you do water changes?

 

[Pappy]

Try a 30-50% wc wait a day and check.


Mike D "like the beastie boys" Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Scott S]

You said sugar sand.. where did you get it? If it's not aragonite then it very well could be silica BASED.. If it's silica based and your seeing alot of cyno, green hair algea, or diatoms there's pretty much nothing you will ever be able to do about it. Silica= diatoms, green algea ect... aragonite sand or CA based sand is the only sand that should be used in a SW tank.
How deep is the sand bed? Ideally it should either be just a covering of sand if for looks, or at least 4" if using it to reduce nitrates as a DSB..
Just my 2cents worth..

 

[Pkunk35]

How deep is the sand? Have you tried vacuuming it when you do water changes?

+1
how deep, what are you feeding, do you vacuum the sand?

Is your sand bed filled with critters? Might help to add some tiny detrivores to your sandbed.

 

[saltwaternewbee]

My sand bed is about 4" and I think it was caribean sea sand..non live
I have about 40-45 sandsifting sails and was looking into a diamond gobbie..but LFS is out of them for now.
I've been doing several water changes 35-40g a time.
My live rock has been in the system for over 4yrs total and my display rock is kiln fired decor from alternative reefs.
I feed coral frenzy, reef chili, Seachem fuel, reef nutrition phyto, sally frozen mysis, Instant ocean chips and coral amino. I don't feed all this all the time. I alternate most and feed the coral every 4-5 days and the fish once a day...mostly dry food.

 

[Young Frankenstein]

My sand bed is about 4" and I think it was caribean sea sand..non live
I have about 40-45 sandsifting sails and was looking into a diamond gobbie..but LFS is out of them for now.
I've been doing several water changes 35-40g a time.
My live rock has been in the system for over 4yrs total and my display rock is kiln fired decor from alternative reefs.
I feed coral frenzy, reef chili, Seachem fuel, reef nutrition phyto, sally frozen mysis, Instant ocean chips and coral amino. I don't feed all this all the time. I alternate most and feed the coral every 4-5 days and the fish once a day...mostly dry food.

I think you would be surprised by how much stuff is trapped in the 4" sand bed.

 

[Scott S]

Whats the expiration on the test kit and has anyone else or yourself tried and verified the reading with a different test kit? Sometimes it's that simple.....

 

[caudill187]

I'd cut back on the additives, coral feedings. Most of the products you listed end up being mostly dissolved organics, which end up being nitrates.

 

[REEF911]

In my own experience of 3 years reefing heres my thoughts. how often are you changing your water. you have told us you have been doing water changes but did not say how many a month or week your doing. whats the flow in your tank. you need to have enough to keep your food in suspension to be filtered out. if your getting algea build up which i dont know if you are. you may be adding to much phosphates from the food your feeding. my best recomendation here would be to sift the sand weekly with a 30 percent water change. also pick up some dr tims waste away to help clean up waste in the sand and rocks. this is the best recomendation i can make. what kind of corals do you have sps lps softies??? if you have sps your fish alone should have plenty of food for them hidin in thier waste lol. do you have a cleaning crew scarlet crabs and nassarian snails can be of great benifit. ok i will get off my soap box good luck my friend

 

[ItsNotaNemo]

Did you downsize from a 180 to something smaller or did you downsize TO a 180? When you downsized it sounds as if you transfered your old LR to your new system? If this is the case I may know a possible reason (and potential solution) to your nitrate levels.

If you're using rock from the old system this may likely be the root of the problem. Old rock can act as a sponge for nitrates over time and when introduced to new systems they will leech those nitrates into the water. This is horrid per se, you just need to keep onto of regular water changes and vacuum the live rock crevices to get out any old detritus. Also, if possible add some sort of nitrate sponge or algae like cheato or caulerpa to the tank. Its a slow process (took me 3-4 months of weekly water changes, "beneficial" algae and vodka dosing) but the nitrates will eventually go away. Hope this helps. :bigsmile:

 

[mcarroll]

I've had my 180 up and running for over a year now and decided to downsize. (Volume and fish) only have 10 fish no bigger then 2" for a little over 200g water volume. The 180 had no issues with nitrates. I ran argonite and all was good. Took all the water and used it for the new set up. Decided to use sugar sand and since the beginning (7months now) I've had nitrate issues around 40-60 ppm. Been doing water changes and set up a bio pellet reactor trying to knock them down. No change. As stated the only change I have done is use sugar sand vs argonite.

Can this be the cause or something else i'm overlooking?

Not a cause - coincidence - but that sugar sand is a b**** to live with. It's hard to have "enough flow" to keep dirt from settling out of the water without blowing sand everywhere. It's also virtually impossible to gravel vac the stuff if/when it does get dirty from the lack of flow. Personally, I would siphon the stuff out and either go bare bottom or add back a 1" layer (no greater) of (e.g.) Carib Sea Seafloor Special Grade.

What size is the new tank (display, not the system) and how long did the transfer to the new tank take? How nasty/dirty was the rock when it came out of the old tank?

Are you seeing a lot of algae growth, or is your test kit the only thing indicating this problem? (Verify your results at the LFS.)

Does your water change water test zero for nitrates?

My sand bed is about 4" and I think it was caribean sea sand..non live
I have about 40-45 sandsifting sails and was looking into a diamond gobbie..but LFS is out of them for now.
I've been doing several water changes 35-40g a time.
My live rock has been in the system for over 4yrs total and my display rock is kiln fired decor from alternative reefs.
I feed coral frenzy, reef chili, Seachem fuel, reef nutrition phyto, sally frozen mysis, Instant ocean chips and coral amino. I don't feed all this all the time. I alternate most and feed the coral every 4-5 days and the fish once a day...mostly dry food.

I would skip the goby and rectify the problem sand bed now instead or later.

I would also cease the coral feedings altogether at least until the problem is behind you. Fish poop will be more than enough for them to eat. Also make sure none of your dry fish food is going down the filters - you are feeding too much at once if it is. Either feed less at a time so the fish can get it all or soak the food so it doesn't float and they have more time to catch it.

I would also check your water change schedule and make sure you're doing large, frequent water changes - 20% per change, minimum...at least weekly - until your nitrates come down.

As an extra, a product like AZ-NO3 may help too. Couple with a bacterial product like MicroBacter7 or Special Blend for maximum results.

-Matt