Will my tank go into a mini cycle if...

jctse · May 25, 2012

My nitrates are around 10ppm while doing a religious 15% water change routine. I've been advised to change out the crushed coral substrate. I'm only like about 6 months in. I'm strongly thinking it is a good idea. In the back left I put chaetomorpha into box with holes and small powerhead.
All I have for filtration is purigen, charcoal, and filterpad in the box in the corner. Do I have to worry about going into a minicycle if I just remove all the substrate and replace it with new dry (but will wash before using) sand? Will the rock (which was uncured when I first got it) be enough?

thewackyreefer · May 25, 2012

Depending on how much is trapped down there you may...

I'd suggest doing it maybe 1/4 at a time. When I wanted to switch out my sand I used a 1" hose, started a siphon and sucked it up off the bottom into a bucket or something without stirring it up too much. Then you can just replace the lost water with a fresh batch.

jctse · May 25, 2012

Thanks. So you mean in about 4 weeks time I will be barebottom (assuming 1/4 per week). Then when it's bare put my new sand in. I like the idea. Do you think it's necessary to put in wet live sand or just go with washed dry sand?

dsmhero · May 25, 2012

I firmly believe "live" sand is a waste of money, just go with rinsed dry sand.

jonbar1 · May 25, 2012

Your substrate looks pretty fine in that pic. When I think crushed coral I think of the 1/2-1" chunks of coral skeletons that used to be popular a decade ago. The main problem with it was it had lots of space between the chunks and in this space detritus and gunk would accumulate and decompose. Thus, high nitrates were common with it.

Your substrate seems more like coarse sand to me and the above situation not a likely culprit for high nitrates. If you want a finer sand look you could wash some sand and layer it on top of what you have. If you want to swap out the substrate for finer sand the advise above is what I'd recommend.

mallorieGgator · May 25, 2012

Honestly, through tank looks good to me. I see no nuisance algae or anything or any cyano. I would just leave it and if your tests are high for nitrates, maybe try another test kit.

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REEFKEEPER10 · May 25, 2012

mallorieGgator said:
Honestly, through tank looks good to me. I see no nuisance algae or anything or any cyano. I would just leave it and if your tests are high for nitrates, maybe try another test kit.

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+1 on a new test.

strange33w · May 26, 2012

Your tank looks nice. I have seen many tanks that are amazing with substrate that looks like yours. If you don’t like the look then change it if you like it like others have said try another test kit just to see where it comes out at.

jctse · Jun 12, 2012

Thanks for the tips. I did a complete retest last night and ammonia 0, nitrite 0, and nitrate is barely detectable. I sort'a went against getting another test kit because i didn't want to spend the money. I tested some other sw samples from different tanks and was convinced it was probably accurate.

I did two things that maybe helped. I wound up siphoning out about 1/4 substrate per week. Right now about 90% of the substrate is gone. I also changed my carbon out with some fancy carbon product call Clear FX Pro that my lfs was pushing on me. So right now I'm filter floss, chemipure, and Clear FX Pro.

I'll probably go bare bottom for a while and then put some some sugar sized aragonite in when I get tired of it.

Thanks all.