to do or not todo that is the question

[talkalot82]

so yay or nay? Ive had my tank set up for a year as fish only with some mushrooms. I just got this really neat metal halide light for it, with actnics and moon lights. So im setting it up to full reef. Though I've had most my live rocks for a year now. someone suggested i might want to change out my crush coral on the bottom to raise my ph before I add corals to my tank. And Im going to get a long tenacle anemone. should I change out my crush coral. maybe just some of it? maybe go to sand? any suggestions.

[CA2OR]

I have found that crushed coral, ime, kept my ph pretty good. What is your ph?

[Rick]

Everything I've read suggests the coral is over rated as a way to raise/buffer PH. If the current sand bed is keeping the params good then I would leave it alone and just buffer the water if necessary. (Changing the sand out will disturb the balance of the system so I wouldn't do so unless it is really needed)

[CA2OR]

Everything I've read suggests the coral is over rated as a way to raise/buffer PH. If the current sand bed is keeping the params good then I would leave it alone and just buffer the water if necessary. (Changing the sand out will disturb the balance of the system so I wouldn't do so unless it is really needed)

 

I think he is currently running crushed coral. To my defense. I used crushed corals as a substraight in my FW tanks and never had a PH issue. Never tried it in SW.

[Rick]

I think he is currently running crushed coral. To my defense. I used crushed corals as a substraight in my FW tanks and never had a PH issue. Never tried it in SW.

 

I'm not saying not to use it but rather that I would not take out what is there already and swap it with fresh if the current params are good. The sand bed itself is already working to balance the system and disturbing it could have some negative effects. Especially if it releases a bunch of hydrogen sulfide (I think that's the right chemical) all at once into the system. I spent a lot of time over the last few weeks looking at articles regarding the use of aragonite vs. silica for the sand bed and while most suggest the buffering of the ph as the main reason for the aragonite the actual buffering ability of the aragonite supposedly isn't as great as most suggest. I still will continue to use the aragonite primarily but I'm also not concerned about the 30 lbs. or so of silica sand in my sump either. (I have about 20 lbs. of aragonite, 30 lbs. of silica sand, and 20 lbs. or so of oyster shells all mixed together in my sump)

 

FWIW, tonight I've been researching nitrate reactors which I think I'm going to try. After dosing Vodka for about 4 months I'm not getting the results I want so I'm going to try the reactor route instead. What I'm going to do is run 2 chambers. One for the sulfar and actual nitrate reduction and then a second reactor chamber to buffer the ph using arm media since the water will be acidic from the first chamber. This might seem like a contradiction however the second chamber will only be flowing at about 1 drip per second which will give the media a chance to buffer the water. Or at least that is the theory anyway. Incidentally it should raise the calcium level as well but I doubt it will be enough to be substantial. That isn't a concern to me anyway as my calcium levels are not an issue. (If anything they may be a tad high still)

[CA2OR]

I'm not saying not to use it but rather that I would not take out what is there already and swap it with fresh if the current params are good. The sand bed itself is already working to balance the system and disturbing it could have some negative effects. Especially if it releases a bunch of hydrogen sulfide (I think that's the right chemical) all at once into the system. I spent a lot of time over the last few weeks looking at articles regarding the use of aragonite vs. silica for the sand bed and while most suggest the buffering of the ph as the main reason for the aragonite the actual buffering ability of the aragonite supposedly isn't as great as most suggest. I still will continue to use the aragonite primarily but I'm also not concerned about the 30 lbs. or so of silica sand in my sump either. (I have about 20 lbs. of aragonite' date=' 30 lbs. of silica sand, and 20 lbs. or so of oyster shells all mixed together in my sump)[/quote']

 

I am in agreement totally with mixing the sand stirring up issues. And again I would agree I wouldn't remove all my sand right now and replace it with new. I could only imagine the issues that would arrise there(scary) as much as I would love to go with black sand. Seems it would make the corals colors pop more. But don't you get light reflection off the white? Isn't that good for the tank?

[Rick]

I am in agreement totally with mixing the sand stirring up issues. And again I would agree I wouldn't remove all my sand right now and replace it with new. I could only imagine the issues that would arrise there(scary) as much as I would love to go with black sand. Seems it would make the corals colors pop more. But don't you get light reflection off the white? Isn't that good for the tank?

 

Silica sand cames in a variety of colors including white. And yes, white reflects back light that black would soak up. I'm not suggesting that silica sand be used though. Just that I'm not worried about it causing any problems. I really just threw extra I had into my sump to increase the depth of the DSB (I did the same with the oyster shells after I made my diy rocks with it).