Still more questions about my nitrate situation??

As I posted before about the chemi-pure and purigen combo in my media basket,(29g biocube), I am waiting for my chaeto to get here wednesday, but I was also wondering how deep my sand bed should be, it is only about one inch deep, and if it should be deeper what kind of sand should I use to add to the bed and how do I do that? My tank has been up for a year already. I was thinking about adding the bio-activ live agronite sand but am afraid of another cycle. I have a maroon clown, coral beauty, and a neon velvet damsel along with a brittle star and 5 turbos, and 4 hermits in there right now. Trying to get the nitrates down and controlled to add some coral. Thanks for all your help, I am under the understanding that a deeper sand bed will help with the nitrate problem also

 

One inch should be fine. What is your circulation in gallon per hour? What is your maintenance routine?

 

I do a 15% water change each week and also clean the glass(diatome etc) at the same time. I only recently the last time I did a water change to now turkey baster the live rock. I just installed the rio mini 6HF(replaced the stock pump) and not sure what the gallon per hour is on that, I think 350, and I put in the display a koralia 750gph. Others on this site told me that would be good for corals.

 

the last time I did my water change is when I added my media basket/fuge from InTank. I sucked up the water from chambers 1 and 2 because there was a ton of waste back there, I got quite a bit out of there. I also have that AquaticLife mini skimmer running in chamber 1 right now.

 

Good job on cleaning the chambers. Change the media every two weeks or you will start manufacturing nitrate.

 

I would look into biopellets if the chaeto doesn't work out.

 

Also I do use RO/DI water, how do I clean the media just run some tap water over the purigen and chemi-pure pouches? I change the filter floss right now about every other day

 

One should only use the biopellets in a reactor if they have a good skimmer. otherwise, it can lead to bacterial blooms and isnt effective in removing the nitrates. I am a HUGE fan of Purigen. I have used it for years and love it for its renewable properties. no need to renew it unless it is all brown. you can massage teh baggie weekly when you do your maintenance to make sure it is not clogged up.