va reef walker
Reefing newb
Hi all,
I've had my 55g tank about 9 months now, and since we have started to really get the hang of water changes, testing etc, we've decided to start to really look at honing our water quality.
Everything always tests good, but our nitrates always seem to run 20-30 ppm even directly after water changes which are 5g weekly.
Reading on this forum, it appears we made a rather large mistake in placing crushed coral in our tank.
We are very lightly stocked only having a Clown Fish, a Six Lined Wrasse, Serpent Star, and CuC.
What I want to do is remove the Crushed Coral, and replace it with sand. I've read on here to take out a little at a time as I do water changes, but this has me concerned for my livestock. Even though we only have a few things in the tank, I'd rather not go through a die off.
At the same time I want to do what I can to lower my nitrates so that once they are lowered we are able to then start to add Corals and such.
What would be the best way to remove the Crushed Coral safely without removing too much bacteria?
Thanks in advance,
Kris
I've had my 55g tank about 9 months now, and since we have started to really get the hang of water changes, testing etc, we've decided to start to really look at honing our water quality.
Everything always tests good, but our nitrates always seem to run 20-30 ppm even directly after water changes which are 5g weekly.
Reading on this forum, it appears we made a rather large mistake in placing crushed coral in our tank.
We are very lightly stocked only having a Clown Fish, a Six Lined Wrasse, Serpent Star, and CuC.
What I want to do is remove the Crushed Coral, and replace it with sand. I've read on here to take out a little at a time as I do water changes, but this has me concerned for my livestock. Even though we only have a few things in the tank, I'd rather not go through a die off.
At the same time I want to do what I can to lower my nitrates so that once they are lowered we are able to then start to add Corals and such.
What would be the best way to remove the Crushed Coral safely without removing too much bacteria?
Thanks in advance,
Kris