replacing substrate

[Loralie]

I am just curiuos on how often or if at all people replace their sand? I know Julian sprung did a talk a couple of years back at IMAC I think about old reef syndrome. So My tank has been up for 3 years and I just thought I would get imput on when to replace the subtrate.

[mattb]

Don't waste your time, it's not worth the effort. How deep is your sand? I had a Jaubert system that ran for almost 5 years. I think that his comments stems from the unproved "sand is a time bomb that will make your reef crash in 4 years" BS.

[Loralie]

my sandbed is maybe 3" deep at the very most. I just hated to replace my sand as it is full of critters. There are hundreds of the mini stars in mine and you hate to just throw all that away

[Soltaker]

Unless you are having uber problems with algae and can't seem to find out how to lower the phosphates, and everything you have done short of starting over to rid the tank of the algae have failed, I'd leave it alone. :biggthumpup:

[Loralie]

nope no algea problems.

[Soltaker]

nope no algea problems.

I'd just leave it. :biggthumpup:

[spsick]

i've been debating the very same thing, I'm about 3 years into my sand bed, which is about 4 inches(was 5) In the beginning I had awesome growth out of everything, within the past year, everything slowed down. I've gone to every lenght to rid myself of phosphate, and algae. I'm thinking a cleaning of the sand. pull everything out except sand and ten gallons of water, stir to holy hell, and then siphon all the crap. What do you guys think?

[rihanssu]

i've been debating the very same thing, I'm about 3 years into my sand bed, which is about 4 inches(was 5) In the beginning I had awesome growth out of everything, within the past year, everything slowed down. I've gone to every lenght to rid myself of phosphate, and algae. I'm thinking a cleaning of the sand. pull everything out except sand and ten gallons of water, stir to holy hell, and then siphon all the crap. What do you guys think?

use zeovit! it'll leach out all your PO4 and then you won't ahve none!

[mattb]

spsick, if you have phosphate issues, don't blame the sand. Ultimately, you're not balancing import/export of nutrients. Again, I had a Jaubert system with 4" of sand for years and had no phosphates or nitrates, no algae. What skimmer do you have relative to your tank? Also, I wouldn't correlate a slowing growth with a sand bed unless you are relying on it being the source of alk and ca (which I doubt).

Loralie, don't touch the sand... part of the issue is that you don't know what organisms are lurking there. It has been documented that potentially nasty bacteria strains may be cultured in your sand bed and if released you may be doing more harm than good.

[spsick]

thanks matt, good insight. I actually upgraded skimmer when I added a sump, to a octopus nw150, I dont feed a ton, I have 5 fish. Just trying to hunt down my problem, which may not even be phosphates, thats just what everyone told me( including rafael from the coral nursery) why some sps corals flourish while others havent grown since I got them. I replace r.o. filters often,
I use two part to maintain ca and alk.
water params are
temp. 78-80
salinity 1.024
ca 400
alk 8.0-8.3
phosphate is lower than crappy red sea test kit will read,
everything else is normal

btw, the roscoe looks awesome! polyps extend so much you can barely see the coral

[mattb]

Rafael is a good guy... his angels are amazing, spawning in captivity?!? WOW! Great corals too, I got my desalwii from him...

Good to hear the roscoe is doing well! They are fuzzy, crazy fuzzy.

Do you have a low level phosphate test kit (Salifert doens't count). I'm thinking either the Merck/Deltec or Hanna Colormeter? Could also simply be adjustment to your system, some acros take longer than others.... everything else looks good.

[Redwinger]

Hobby p04 test kits are worthless. Sand beds or BB you will all ways have a PO4 locked up in the sand and rock. Even on a BB system you will have to cook your rock over time. But I agree that if you are not having problems than don't mess with it.

[mattb]

I think the Hanna and Deltec are pretty good. Part of the problem is that these tests, and the other crappy ones only measure inorganic phosphates. They ignore organic phosphates, and with the phosphate cycle, inorganic can become organic and vice versa.

[spsick]

btw Loralie, didn't mean to hijack your thread, I was just contemplating doing the very same thing as you, sorry

[Loralie]

no problem...I am glad I am not the only on curious about this