How many sand in nano??

[casinoblu]

HI to all, i'm new of this forum and I would have a question on the maintenance of the nanoreef. Who of you puts sand on the bottom? and if, how many cm high?
I have approximately 3cm but always having high nitrates and phosphates I wanted to remove it completely.
or i can remove 1 or 2cm?? or better remove all sand?
sorry for my english :?
Your experiences in merit? Hello Stefano

[casinoblu]

sorry, i have posted 2 times the same thread :cry:
Moderators can leave 0ne of that post?
thank you stefano

[gman0526]

Well Stefano, personally I have a 10 gal. nano that is 5 yrs. old and it has a sand base that is 2" deep (about 5 cm.) and it has not given me any problems with nitrates. if u could please fill the my tank info on your profile, so we understand better how your system works.

[Condiman]

Personally I would go with about 8 cm (3in). I have this much in my 10 gallon and I never had any problems. What size tank do you plan on using? I would also recamend a RO/DI unit. It will save you lots of headaches in the future.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Keep in mind that the more sand you have in a small tank, the less water volume you will have as well as less space for all the goodies...LR, corals, etc. My vote is 1 1/2" - 2" max. I did about that much in my nano's and stocked them with a crew of sand sifters like nassarius snails and cerith snails to keep the sand sifted. I'm now down to one nano, a 2.5 and I only have about 3/4" of sand and a couple of nass snails to keep it clean.

[casinoblu]

thanks for answer, guys..
my tank system:
25lt (about 7 gal)
3x11w 6.000k 10h/day
2x9w osram blue 12h/day
seaclone skimmer always on
9kg bali live rocks
3cm coralline sand
2 powerhead 500lt/h than work 6h alternately
heater 50w
inhabitants:
1 lysmata shrimp, hermit crabs, turbo snails, 1 synularia sp, 1 acropora nobilis, ricordea sp, yellow polips, xenia pumping e various actinodisc..
h20 value:
temp 26°
ph: 7,9-8,2 (salifert test)
alk 8 (salifert test)
phosfate 0,2 (sera or salifert test)
nitrite 0 (jbl or salifert test)
nitrate 20 (salifert test)
calcium 400 (salifert n elos test)
magnesium 1.100 (salifert test)
i change 5lt every week with RO + instant ocean or reef crystal salt..
everyday 1 lt kalkwasser
every week magnesium, liquid calcium n oligoelementes kent or knop added second it turns out of the tests to half dose advised from the company
every week clean windows n i prune the various kind of algae (halimeda n caulerpa sp)
what do u think??
p.s. i hope u understand something of that post lol

[gman0526]

That's probably one of the best descriptions of a tank i seen so far!!!

Are you using R/O (Reverse Osmosis) filtered water? Because, everything else seems good to me other than maybe the caulerpa.

I'm really not a big fan of keeping macro-algae in the main tank area, I've heard from other people that they can mess off your nitrate parameters.

Other than that It sounds very good!!! :) :coolbeans:

I am using sand in my 10 gallon Nano. Its only about 5 cm deep though. I havent had a water quality problem yet. Not sure what could be driving up your nitrates if your doing water changes. If your not using RO/DI water there could be the problem as tap water can have both of these in unacceptable amounts. Buts thats just speculation on my part.

[casinoblu]

Are you using R/O (Reverse Osmosis) filtered water?

Hi Gman, i always used RO water for my changes...
i forgive in my description than everyweek i use invertebrates foods like Sera, Ocean Nutrition n 1 or 2 live clams for the lysmata wundermanni et hermit crabs....is too much??
When i change water the nitrates low down about 5....but in a 2 or 3 days come back at 20 :cry:
maybe is an excess of food???
I check out my RO/DI water n the parameters are:
nitrate 0
fosfate 0
silicate 0 :roll:
This week i wanna try to leave out all the sand, i dont know if is a secure mode..but i'm really desperate :roll: lol

[gman0526]

I would say that probably is an overfeeding issue, but if you feel confident on going bare bottom on your tank, go for it!!

If you are planning on doing that, I would reccomend you do so slowly... take a little a time, let the tank adjust then take some more out.

Good luck and keep us posted!!!