Substrate Problem

[reefpeeper]

What causes my substrate to clump?

 

[mrred]

Following

 

[DaveMorris]

Not enough sand sifting creatures. Stars, worms, cucumbers, conchs, blennies and gobies, etc.

 

[FL_Reefer]

Could be your calcium, have you checked your levels lately? I've seen this happen in other tanks. It ''concretes''

 

[lionfish5740]

I've read that any of these conditions could be the culprit, by Randy Holmes Farley:

New sand/aquarium
High pH,(limewater)
Excessive calcium and alkalinity, and maybe low magnesium
Bacterial driven process

 

[CoralHut]

Usually high calcium or alkalinity. What type of substrate do your have?

 

[reefpeeper]

My substrate is very small crushed coral. My cal is 420 and alk is 7. The thing I have a problem with is the amount I have to add to keep those numbers. 34g tank and I add 60ml each daily. I have tried to stop dosing add calc how much each drops a day but I always end up back to 60ml each

 

[SamsReef]

Please check your Mag level. rule of thumb is to have mag three times CA PPM.

 

[reefpeeper]

Yeah mag is about 1300

 

[CoralHut]

60mL/day sounds quite excessive for such a small tank. Even when I ran a full blown SPS reef in a 24g nanocube my dosing was less than 15mL a day. Does the tank have a lot of mature SPS and clams?

I would get another test kit and retest with something different and/or more accurate. I recommend Red Sea, Salifert, or ELOS test lines.

 

[reefpeeper]

does not have a lot of sps. yes I am using red sea pro test kits. I have bought refills and still same results

 

[CoralHut]

So when you measure kH how many mL to turn solution to red?

 

[Siasl]

I would love to tell you that "we know." But I think there are several causes mentioned above that all could be applicable. IME, it is bacterial build up (hypothesis of mine, not known fact) that can be solved simply. A Diamond watchman goby or the life. so go grab some sand sifting gobies, check basic water parem (do waterchange = solution for all bad things) and get this guy to stir things up:

Saltwater Aquarium Fish for Marine Aquariums: Diamond Watchman Sand Sifter Goby


Or super tongan nassarius snails (also LA) - the two of them stir the heck up out of your sand and should remove the observed issues.