Hi all! Just thought I would pose the question: do you think that calcium carbonate precipitation is hastened in a super low nutrient system?
I ask this because I have battled precipitation for months now to no avail. I’m stocking my tank with more fish as fast as I can and feeding the heck out of the tank, all to the fine tune of 0 nitrate and 0 phosphate (note that these are from the Hannah checkers).
I have Carib Sea’s Arag-alive sand, and I had definitive sand hardening for a while, but now it’s just in the form of small clumps. I dose BRS 2-part (sodium bicarbonate not soda ash) on a Bubble Magus doser. Without soda ash or a CO2 scrubber, my tank runs very low pH (7.7-7.9 at best), and even at that low of pH I was still getting precipitation, not as much, but it was still there. I left all means of pH increasing media out for about a month to no avail. I’ve stopped dosing several times, and the second I restart, so does my precipitation.
Because my pH was so low, and because I still had precipitation anyway, I reconnected my CO2 scrubber to get a pH of about 8.0. I have a filter sock, a skimmer, and a refugium, and even though I reduced my refugium lighting schedule, tuned back my skimmer, left my filter sock in for 5+ days, and skipped a full week of water change, I still have 0 nitrates and phosphates.
This brings me to my original question: do you think my lack of nutrients could be preventing the clogging of the calcium carbonate surfaces in the sand, leading to continued precipitation?
For reference, my system volume is about 75 gallons, it’s about 5 months old, has noticeable coralline growth, and has 7 fish (four of which are green Chromis who eat a lot). I do believe that a portion of my consumption is coralline growth, and I recently added a small single-head frag of candy cane coral (but this was days ago).
I ask this because I have battled precipitation for months now to no avail. I’m stocking my tank with more fish as fast as I can and feeding the heck out of the tank, all to the fine tune of 0 nitrate and 0 phosphate (note that these are from the Hannah checkers).
I have Carib Sea’s Arag-alive sand, and I had definitive sand hardening for a while, but now it’s just in the form of small clumps. I dose BRS 2-part (sodium bicarbonate not soda ash) on a Bubble Magus doser. Without soda ash or a CO2 scrubber, my tank runs very low pH (7.7-7.9 at best), and even at that low of pH I was still getting precipitation, not as much, but it was still there. I left all means of pH increasing media out for about a month to no avail. I’ve stopped dosing several times, and the second I restart, so does my precipitation.
Because my pH was so low, and because I still had precipitation anyway, I reconnected my CO2 scrubber to get a pH of about 8.0. I have a filter sock, a skimmer, and a refugium, and even though I reduced my refugium lighting schedule, tuned back my skimmer, left my filter sock in for 5+ days, and skipped a full week of water change, I still have 0 nitrates and phosphates.
This brings me to my original question: do you think my lack of nutrients could be preventing the clogging of the calcium carbonate surfaces in the sand, leading to continued precipitation?
For reference, my system volume is about 75 gallons, it’s about 5 months old, has noticeable coralline growth, and has 7 fish (four of which are green Chromis who eat a lot). I do believe that a portion of my consumption is coralline growth, and I recently added a small single-head frag of candy cane coral (but this was days ago).
