Originally Posted by
Kat 4
http:///forum/post/2621758
Ok - I'm so glad we didn't go anywhere this holiday weekend. We got a diamond goby (sand sifting kind) to clean up our sandbed. We have a 75 gallon reef with a sump growing mangroves in it....all has been fine but somehow the goby stirred up so much sand, it clogged our filter in the sump and the water overflowed onto our hardwood floor. Then today...our trates are spiked to 40+ (they have been below 20 for 6 months) We are doing a water change but what has happened? Did the sand stirring create all these nitrates? Is the goby a good or bad thing...right now he's not my favorite fish in the tank...HELP!
Nitrates are often stored in a sandbed as things are breaking down from nitrites into nitrates. A deep sandbed converts those nitrates into nitrogen gas, which escapes the tank in the form of air bubbles. shallow sandbed tend to retain/store the nitrates unless sandstirring critters are used to keep them in the water column where they are absorbed and used by algae and plants (hopefully in a refugium). Stirring up the sand will often release those stored nitrates into the water column in mass, and the stirring up your sandbed no doubt caused this happen. Generally the diamond is a good thing, although it is a sifter, which means that it consumes things as it filters the sand, so pods, microstars, etc. are not likely to have large populations in a tank that has one (obviously the larger the tank, the less of an issue this is). I loved mine, but had to remove him because I couldn't get an microfauna growth. Never had an issue with him stirring up this much sand in my 65. Are you sure it was the fish? You didn't have a powerhead fall or slip and direct water into the sandbed?
