Help Needed

[mike_dani]

I have a 110 mixed reef with the following equipment.... I have been up and running with no major issues for 3.5 months

29 gallon sump with live rock and rubble 20 pounds Chaeto no bio balls or dirty sponge
coral life 125 protein skimmer
mag 12 return pump full flow
2 Korilia 3's
1-3 inch sand bed depending on location
100 pounds of live rock

The following live stock
Yellow Tang 3 inch
Sailfin Tang 3 inch
Scopas Tang 3 inch
2 clowns
2 purple firefish
midas blenny
blue spotted jawfish
diamond goby
2 mandarins
fire shrimp
cleaner shrimp
2 peppermint shrimp
30 snails
12 hermit crabs

I am primarily LPS the only SPS in Moti's I have been fighting high Nitrates around 40 most the time however I just cleaned all filter socks, blew off the rocks and cleaned out the sump two days ago. My Nitrates are now at 140 or more Red is Red when you get to that point.

Everything is open and looks good fish are swimming fine. I have noticed a bunch of bubbles coming from my sand bed and my rock work. I know for sure that it is not micro bubbles or my power heads sucking air and have no idea what going on.

Current Params are as follows:
PH 8.0
Alk 9.5
Calc 460
salinity 1.024
Phosphate .5
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate at least 140

What do I do at this point I did a water change on Sunday 35 gallons when I cleaned everything. I am thinking I might need a Sulfur Denitrater.

 

[Ike]

The best thing you could do for that tank and your situation is a better protein skimmer and perhaps expanding the area you grow your chaeto. Then do a couple large water changes to take a chunk out of the nitrates and hopefully the remaining will slowly fall.

 

[mike_dani]

I am in thinking of this one Super Reef Octopus XP 2000
In-Sump Cone could you explain the Chaeto thing and how much should I be using 1 pound 3 pounds ect

 

[AZDesertRat]

12 fish in a 110 is a lot, I have a well established 100G with a 30G sump and I keep 6 fish maximum. 1-3" substrate is not enough for a deep sand bed but a little much for decorative.
3.5 months isn't even fully cycled yet, your beneficial bacteria have not caught up to your bio load. It takes months and months to become what most would call established.

What you need is either more cured live rock or a deep sand bed if you plan to keep that many inhabitants. I would personally shed about half of the fish, cut back to once every other day on feeding and then feed sparingly, consider a fishes stomach to be about the size of its eyes, and keep up with water changes.
If you want bacteria to grow in the sand and aid in nitrate export, get it to 5-6" overall and do not disturb it. Don't stir it and only vacuum the top 1/4" and then in very small sections over time. If you don't want a DSB then I would remove most of the substrate and add another 50-100 lbs of porous live rock to give the bacteria a place to colonize. I have 330 lbs of Southdown sand (5-6") and 160 lbs of Kaelini live rock in my 100 with a ball of chaeto and live rock rubble in the refugium/sump and my nitrates are undetectable, I just checked over the weekend with both an API and a Salifert kit.

Your skimmer isn't the best or the worst and I don't think its your problem. Many people still run skimmerless and have 0 nitrates. I use a Turboflotor 1000 Classic myself and its old technology compared to some found today but it does the job.

Patience is the name of the game, only bad things happen quickly, all good things take time. Slowly stock the tank with fish and corals and QT everything or you are headed for heartbreak.

 

[Ike]

Denitrification can and does take place in much shorter sandbeds than 5-6" and that old way of thinking in that regard has been clouded. His skimmer may not be the worst, but it's **** close... If you eliminate compounds before they're able to break down into ammonia and ultimately nitrates that will aid greatly in keeping nitrates down, it's that simple.

 

[ReefGeezer]

Get a way better skimmer (Reef Octopus rated about 1.5 to 2X your tank capacity would be ok), add GAC and GFO, and do 3 or 4 50% water changes to get the nitrates below 20 and then maybe a remote deep sand bed or start Carbon Dosing.

 

[AZDesertRat]

Denitrification in a sandbed requires anaerobic and facultative bacteria. Anaerobic bacteria live in oxygen starved strata which is deep in the bed. You need to study up on DSB's, I suggest anything by Dr. Ron Schimek who is the authority when it comes to DSB's and how they work. I have been in wastewater treatment for over 30 years which is exactly how a DSB functions bacteria wise and I'll bet I am much closer to being right than you think. 5-6" is still the preffered depth in order to function well. It also requires lots of surface area which is not always available in a sump or smaller remote sandbed.

 

[inactive]

I have 10 fish in my 55, no sump... feed twice a day, no problems... *shrug*

 

[Ike]

Denitrification in a sandbed requires anaerobic and facultative bacteria. Anaerobic bacteria live in oxygen starved strata which is deep in the bed. You need to study up on DSB's, I suggest anything by Dr. Ron Schimek who is the authority when it comes to DSB's and how they work. I have been in wastewater treatment for over 30 years which is exactly how a DSB functions bacteria wise and I'll bet I am much closer to being right than you think. 5-6" is still the preffered depth in order to function well. It also requires lots of surface area which is not always available in a sump or smaller remote sandbed.

I've been in this hobby through all the sandbed and bare bottom fads and have read everything Shimek has had published. When it comes down to it Shimek was (is?) wrong about some things relating to sandbeds. I'm not going to turn this thread intop a huge sandbed debate thread, I've seen enough of those on various sites dating back over a decade.

Simply put, deep sands beds aren't the evil that some make them out to be, nor are they the magic portal that removes nutrients from a aquarium that some propenents claim they are. One thing they are is superfluous... It's quite possible to maintain an aquarium with undetectable nitrates and not have anything resembling a deep sandbed, thus getting the same end result without the potential pitfalls...