Will Aquascaping raise Nitrates?

[felixfish]

I was thinking to re-aquascape some rocks off the sand floor of my tank. If I remove them very slowly will I be ok without raising any nitrate levels? Or am I freaking out about nothing?

 

[sen5241b]

If there are big deposits of detritus down there and you stir it up then yes it could cause a spike. Take a really bright flashlight and look for deposits of gray detritus. Remove only a few rocks if you need to look deeper.

 

[jcegt87]

whenever i do a big aquascape reset, i do a water change as well right after to reduce the chances of a spike, dunno if thats actually useful but i think it helps

 

[felixfish]

Ok thanks, I made some water to do so after I again, mess with my tank. Ha

 

[Jmck]

+1 guys, I have done a few rescapes, tbh, just go for it and be ready for an emergency clean! haha

 

[felixfish]

I have been looking up the minimalist aquascaping threads and wanted a better look for my tank. And with it being a 55 gal I wanted more sand space. I have been wondering why my nitrates have not lowered any. I think 1, it's my flow, and 2, all the detritis in and around my rocks. I took the majority of them out last night, scrubbed all the grren and red cyano algae off and attempted to syphon out the muck on the sand bed. It looked like a snow globe at times so, I'm going to have to continue to syphon out more when it falls. I moved the majority of my LR into my sump tank. Around the inlet flow from the overflow box which helped with the bubbles, and more around my return pump.

Since my baffles broke free in my sump tank (awesome I know) I stacked up some LR around it. Surprisingly there are no micro bubbles entering my tank! But with setting up my ATS, and cleaning up the debris, my goal is to start with getting a few Zoa's. I attempted with a pulsing xenia 2 months back and died instantly. I'll post some pics of the new aquascaping tonight!

 

[felixfish]

Here is the before and after of my aquascape. Now to clean up that algae and focus on getting some corals!

 

[Jmck]

Looks incredible! I love minimalist designs :) and a nice flat bed at the top is great for corals.

 

[jcegt87]

Wow looks very nice