sand question

[mike90]

Is it necessary to change out your sand in the tank and put in all new sand? My nitrates have always been high in my tank and I wasn't sure if maybe my sand is holding in all the nitrates. Even aside from the nitratre problem, should I be changing my sand every year or so?

My tank will be a year old in June. It's a 90 gallon.

 

[Anonymous]

A healthy sand bed will end with lower Nitrates.

How "live" is your sand bed? Do you have any sand bed predators like Hermit Crabs, Sand sifting Starfish or Sand Sifting fish?

 

[mike90]

as far as how live my sand is....its the original sand that i put in the tank in june of 2005. i had hermit crabs but they never seem to live. they all die off after a couple weeks. i guess its the nitrates that is causing this????

 

[Anonymous]

as far as how live my sand is....its the original sand that i put in the tank in june of 2005. i had hermit crabs but they never seem to live. they all die off after a couple weeks. i guess its the nitrates that is causing this????

I doubt it. You have enough Nitrate to inhibit coral growth in some of the more delicate corals but nowhere near enough to kill a Hermit crab.

I swap sand with fellow hobbiests every chance I get. I believe this increases the diversity of sand bed critters and keeps the sand bed healthy. Sand beds also require a lot of waterflow, how are you in that area?

 

[mike90]

i have power heads pushing the top of the water and one in the middle level of the tank. nothing blowing on the sand. how exactly do you get waterflow on the sandbed??
sorry for the stupid questions.

 

[Len]

If you have a lot of circulation in the tank, it is bound to circulate over the sand bed.

I plan on siphoning half my sandbed every 6 months. I might replace it every couple of years too (not sure yet).

 

[Anonymous]

Len,

I don't ever plan on touching my sand bed. But if you decide to do anything with yours, I would be very careful.

When I had to switch tanks, there were some clear areas of black sand that smelled like sulfer. It was a good choice to take everything else out of the tank before even touching the sand bed. I'm not sure what would have happened if I had disturbed that nasty sulfurous black sand with a bunch of coral and fish in the tank...but I know it wouldn't have been a benefit to the tank.

 

[fyrefysh]

mike90, did you ever use your wet/dry filter on a freshwater tank?

 

[Anonymous]

mike90, did you ever use your wet/dry filter on a freshwater tank?

Why do you ask that?

I have a nitrate problem in a 10 gallon I have that used to be fresh water....go on.

 

[mike90]

mike90, did you ever use your wet/dry filter on a freshwater tank?

nope never

 

[fyrefysh]

Hmm, thought maybe copper was dosed at one point in a freshwater environment. It almost seems as though you have copper in your tank. Have you ever tested for copper? Is your iodine too low maybe?

 

[fyrefysh]

To expound on my point: Sometimes, LFSs treat fish with copper when they get a new shipment and the copper is still in the water when they bag the fish up and sell it. I'm just trying to understand why your hermit crabs are dying when they should be fairly bullet-proof.

 

[mike90]

what can i do to treat for copper?

 

[fyrefysh]

Do you mean get rid of it? If so, you can always TRY activated carbon; BUT, be sure to test for it first to see if it is there.

 

[Anonymous]

Poly Pads will remove dissolved Copper but there's not much you can do for the copper that had adsorbed onto rock & glass.

 

[Anonymous]

Poly Pads will remove dissolved Copper but there's not much you can do for the copper that had adsorbed onto rock & glass.

Yup Poly filters work great. If you have copper, they will turn a copper green after a few weeks. 'Always good to have around.

 

[mike90]

actually i have one of those in my tank. just put it in two weeks ago when i bought my UV sterilizer. i will check my levels again tonight