Changing sand bed...

[moppy]

Is there a need to change your sand bed every so often? Just curious as I've never done it but my nitrates have been slowly creeping up...

[The Grizz]

I am no expert on sand beds but I think if it's a deep sand bed it could cause nitrates to climb if it being disturbed by a fish. I think I have read where some people clean there sand bed once in a while with one of those gravel vac's when doing a WC.

Please someone correct me if I'm wrong, would like to know this too.

[Myka]

On shallow sand beds I like to gravel vac them on every water change. On "true" deep sand beds, as in done properly, the sand bed should not be disturbed (that includes digging fish). Personally, I like to replace the sand bed every 2-4 years. It can be removed, bleached, then dried out (this will off-gas the bleach). Then I "cook" it like with live rock, basically just letting it sit in a bucket of RO water giving it a stir once a day, then draining the water every couple days. This will leech off the phosphate. Then the sand can be used and will be better than new.

[phyto4life]

I vacuum the top 1/4 inch only when it is visibly dirty.

other then that I add a lot of cerith and large nassarius snails

[Whiskey]

Have you seen a reduction in the number of inverts in your tank? Could the climbing nitrates be to the attrition of inverts and the decrease in associated cleanup?

I got the tank and stand out of the basement; lights are down from the ceiling. The tank isn't cleaned yet but if you get some time, give me a shout and we can get it over to your place.

[Cal_stir]

nitrates are a whole other animal, DSB's and macro algae fuges can't sustain med to heavy bioload systems on their own, some sort of denitrator is required, i have been running a sulphur denitrator sucessfully for over a year, my no3 is 0.5ppm on a heavily stocked 90gal mixed reef.
biopellets, zoevit, vodka dosing, and other forms of carbon dosing are good at reducing nitrates and some will reduce po4 as well, all have their pros and cons so do the research,
the new thing i've seen is a recirculating biopellet reactor where the effluent to the tank can be controlled preventing total strippage of all the no3 and po4, haven't seen the reactor on the market yet but it would be an easy DIY. waiting to see if it works long term.
if you have a DSB that has gone south then you should deal with that first.

[Werbo]

[quote=Myka;662517]Personally, I like to replace the sand bed every 2-4 years. It can be removed, bleached, then dried out (this will off-gas the bleach).

I just rinsed an old sandbed that was sitting in my garage for the last month. Smelled so bad the neighbor thought there was a gas leak. I was considering bleaching it as well but was worried. Will the bleach really be "off-gassed " and harmless.

I am not planning on adding it back to my tank for 2-3 months so I have lots of time. I agree with soaking the sand in RO to leach phosphates. But will the bleach really be inert after the sand is dried?

[staceyd72]

Not sure if there is a need to outright replace it, as in 'being old/worn out'. But I do add to it a couple times a year. What I vacuum out with water changes I just replace and add a couple pounds of new along with. Maybe there are other underlying issues that are causing the nitrates to increase??

Originally Posted by moppy

Is there a need to change your sand bed every so often? Just curious as I've never done it but my nitrates have been slowly creeping up...

[moppy]

So I take it the answer in no.. My sand is almost totally white, I don't have any algae growth so I guess it's ok.

Thanks for the responses...