Nitrate Problem

[tlubinski3]

I want to get rid of my crushed coral in my tank because of high nitrates. Is there anyway I can break up my crushed coral into something much finer? I am a college student and can not afford to switch to live sand. Like can I smash it or what? I don't know if anyone has tried but if you have any tips please let me know. Thanks

 

[nereef]

i don't think it would be worth your time to smash it. how much crused coral are we talking about? how big is the tank?

 

[aztec reef]

i wouldn't , just take it out and get some aragonite sand it doesn't have to be all live sand..how deep of cc do you have? have you been vacumming this cc? what other filtration do you have? how high are your trates?

 

[chankanaab]

Hello Aztec,
I am setting up a 100gal fish only tank. My question is I want to buy live sand for the tank...do you think if I buy aragonite sand it will eventually become live? Also if I bought all live sand will it benefit my tank more than aragonite?
Thank you.

 

[aztec reef]

Originally Posted by Chankanaab
Hello Aztec,
I am setting up a 100gal fish only tank. My question is I want to buy live sand for the tank...do you think if I buy aragonite sand it will eventually become live? Also if I bought all live sand will it benefit my tank more than aragonite?
Thank you.

usually if you were going to get live rock you wouldn't have to get live sand because the live rock will make it live. but since is a fish only tank than you're gonna have to put some live sand from an stablished mature tank, the problem with that is that the critters won't have a refuge were they can reproduce and thrive.(like live rock) i would recommend a little bit of live rock at least. also is good idea to have some lr so that the fish don't devower the critters that fast.
if you buy all live sand it will be better but it really isn't necessary since you may loose half of the biodiversity of critters due to the high ammonia levels when cycling..