calcium and alkalinity usage and hard sand question...

[flipteg]

i have a sand bed that is about 3-4 inches thick in my 30 gallon cube...

i have some calcium and alkalinity users in forms of clams and corals, but i've long since thought that my calcium and alkalinty usage is quite high relative to what i have in the tank... i started dosing with about 15ml or Randy's two part recipe 1 about a year ago... it has been increasing from there... now, i am dosing 67ml of each part... i've been doing that for a couple of weeks now and 67ml seems to be the balance point for the tank...

i also noticed that parts of my sand is hard... hard enough that the pistol and goby pair that i have has been tunneling through the sand and surfacing at different parts of the tank... i've read somewhere of someone having sand that turns to stone and that his calcium and alkalinty usage has also been high... how do i prevent this from happening...? i don't want the majority of the supplement i add be used to harden up the sand...

[bertoni]

That level of consumption isn't all that bad. I have a 29g tank that uses 30 ml a day and limewater as topoff.

The hardening of the sand is an issue without much data on what is actually happening. As long as the pH, calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium are in line, I wouldn't worry about the additives causing the problem. I'd just replace the sand and hope for the best.

[reefnetworth]

clams and corals consume mass amounts of Alk and CaC12 as they grow. you didnt state how often you dose, so i cant tell if its a large amount for a single dose based on that.
sugars produced by pod excretion and their skelatin decay will help bond sand together, along with the calcium and Alkalinity additives.

John M. :cool: :smokin: :p

[loc01]

How do you dose those 67ml? slowly dripping or you just pour them in your tank? Pouring too fast will cause precipatation on your sand bed due to rapid change in your ph.

Loc