Sand bed binding????

[Jacoda]

Does NE1 know why or reasons my sandbed is binding like a slab of aragonite rock?????

[Aquattro]

Ace, what are you using for sand? Do you add supplements to the tank? New sandbed or old?

[Jacoda]

Hmmm...I didn't give you guys much to work with; Anyways here it is:

-50G with 25G refug.
-Tank is 3 months old
-Sandbed consist of 50/50 suger grade aragonite and 2mm coarse aragonite sand(about 3 1/2" deep)
-I use Kalk solution for top off(about 1gallon a day).
-Only other thing is iodine.

Thant's all

[ 24 September 2002, 23:25: Message edited by: Ace ]

[EmilyB]

This is just a guess but do you have lots of sand critters, worms, etc. ?

I ran into the problem with a remote sump attached to an established tank. And in retrospect, it never got coloration etc. in the sandbed like one should see.

Is that light related too??? Just wondering now.

[Aquattro]

Are you using a fully saturated solution of kalk? That is 2 tsp/gal. Are you adding vinegar to the kalk solution? During the first three months of a sandbed, excess calcium can react with the aragonite, almost using it as a seed for deposition. This is why you often hear people complain about Ca levels during the early months. Since, and I'm assuming, you don't have a tank full of calcium hungry SPS yet, you have excess calcium going into the system. Something to keep in mind is you don't need to use a fully saturated CaOH mix. I would probably determine how much alkalinity your system consumes and add accordingly. I'll see if I can find an email from Craig Bingman on determining Ca/alk requirements. I would probably cut the kalk dosage in half(unless you can verify you need it) and make sure you don't get large pH swings. This may affect the solubility of the sand and at least be a partial cause of the clumping.
Is it becoming solid all the way thru, or just the surface?

[Jacoda]

I did see lots of pods worms etc in my main tank a month back, but recently it seems the populations has decreased thanks to my hardden sandbed :mad: , however in the fug there are still lots of critters.

[Troy F]

I had the problem in my 72gal that I added only kalk for top off. It is possible you are adding more Ca than your system requires. Try cutting back a little. I was also having this problem on my new tank that has a Ca reactor. I eased up on the amount of CO2 I was adding (thanks Marc) and voila, sandbed isn't clumping.

[Jacoda]

Is it becoming solid all the way thru, or just the surface?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Just in areas around the corners of my tank where there is good flow of water.

Are you using a fully saturated solution of kalk? That is 2 tsp/gal. Are you adding vinegar to the kalk solution?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Ya! I guess I should cut back on Kalk and see.
And yes! I did use vinegar for about a month but stopped after finding my alk was dropping too low.

[Aquattro]

There have been reports of vinegar causing this, but it is rare. I don't have that problem and I've been using it for a while. I premix the kalk powder(8 tsp) with about 80ml of vinegar and then add this to my makeup water(5 gal.).
For your problem, I'd say cut back the kalk to what you realistically need, and poke the clumped areas with a stick or something. Your alk also should not drop from adding vinegar (or calcium acetate if premixed). You may want to do a search on Craig Bingman,,he's written tons of stuff about this.

[Jacoda]

Thanks guys....I guess I have to dig out my 2 feet long chopsticks to poke into my sand bed for a while until it stop clumping.