hey all. i need some advice. i have been removing my crush coral a little at a time with each water change, but i need to get it all out alot quicker so i can get a sand bed in it. am i gonna mess anything up if i was to take everything out and put it in a big container, remove the rest of the cc and replace it with sand then put it all back in? will i cycle again? i am thingking of vacuuming it all out into a filter sock or 4 and pouring the water back in...what is the best way to do this?
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gotta get it all out
- Thread starter twisted
- Start date
I would think that some type of cycle will happen. Some of the live bcateria is in the crushed coral and not in the sand. What you proposed sounds like it will work to me. The only other thing I can think of is putting the sand in shallow containers inside the tank. Each time you take out the crushed coral put a container of sand in its place. Hopefully, it will start to age and have the beneficial bacteria. Then you can dump them in the tank once all the crushe coral is out.
Good luck.
Good luck.
I had crushed coral in two of our tanks (12g and 20g) before I knew any better. When we found on that is was no good, we went out and bought live sand and did exactly what you were thinking. We pulled everything out of the tanks, drained and took out the sand, put in the new live sand, waited for everything to clear, and then put everything back in. Granted we were doing it on much smaller tanks, but we did not have problems.
That statement is opinion and not fact, sand, no sand, deep sand, bed shallow sand bed are all ways to go; and one of the great arguments of our hobby. Hey PaulB has crushed coral for what 35 years? Anything can be done.
I like sand, there are animals that rely on it. I am bordering on DSB so nearly the opposite of Ken. Do what you like ... you have to live with it.
My is-ness as my sensei would say is DSB, LPS, T5, and fuge guy. ;D
I like sand, there are animals that rely on it. I am bordering on DSB so nearly the opposite of Ken. Do what you like ... you have to live with it.
My is-ness as my sensei would say is DSB, LPS, T5, and fuge guy. ;D
twisted said:
depends. Here's a mixed review (I currently have both)
Lots of water movement will initially move sand around, but keep particulates suspended longer; they will also collect in a spot where they can be vacuumed out easily. Very high water movement- SPS. Slower water movement- Everything else.
No sand means no happy sand dwellers like wrasses, sand gobies and the like. You'll resort to no starfish/benthics either
Sand makes a tank look more natural like the reefs in the ocean. Bare bottomers need to focus on aquascaping to pull a viewer away from saying, "uh- you have no sand, why?"
Sand reflects light upward so the tank will look brighter. Bare-bottomers use mylar, mirrors or in my case, heavy duty aluminum foil to reflect the light back up to make the tank brighter through the bottom glass.
No sand means no medium to get detritus to get trapped faster. Long term is you can be slightly lazier which may be good or bad depending on your regimen now anyways. No overfeeding!
Honestly, you're probably better off asking for Sand bed pictures and Bare-bottom pictures from fellow members so you can decided aesthetically. You're the one who's gonna be looking at the tank 24-7
that all helped alot. thankyou. i think ill go with 1/3 cc,1/3 bare, 1/3 dsb ;D.....after all the reading and research i did today, you are right, its what ya want. there are successful tanks with every bottom and there are wretched tanks with every bottom. so, i guess a nice sand bed is gonna be the route i take. do any of you have an opinion on the corallife live sand that is black and white? i think it would look pretty decent in my tank but ive heard some nightmares from adding things just because it looks cool. if any of you do use it, do you feel there are pros and cons that come with the package?
thanks again for all your responses. im on borrowed time here with my tank since my work season is here and i need to get this done. im trying real hard to get caught up so i can get up to the meeting this month. hope i can make it.
thanks again for all your responses. im on borrowed time here with my tank since my work season is here and i need to get this done. im trying real hard to get caught up so i can get up to the meeting this month. hope i can make it.
i have black sand - I like the contrast as it's different from the usual white sand. jsantonli (spelling?) also has the black sand.
My only issue with this is that there are minor bits of magnetic material in the sand - which is attracted to the mag floats - making it a potential scratch hazard if you have coralline near the sandbed. So I have to use the acryllic scrapper and wear a pair of gloves to clean down by the sandbed. I believe this is only an issue with one brand of black sand, so I can't speak to all sand.
here's an example of the contrast you can get:
My only issue with this is that there are minor bits of magnetic material in the sand - which is attracted to the mag floats - making it a potential scratch hazard if you have coralline near the sandbed. So I have to use the acryllic scrapper and wear a pair of gloves to clean down by the sandbed. I believe this is only an issue with one brand of black sand, so I can't speak to all sand.
here's an example of the contrast you can get:
JRWOHLER said:
You're partially right in that it is an opinion. However it is a fact that there will be less likelihood that that you will have problems in terms of algae and nitrate/phosphate buildup with bare bottom than sand or crushed coral. It is also easier to maintain. Of course you could take the time to maintain the sand if that is something that you find enjoyable. The aesthetic appearance of sand or the fact that you can keep animals in the sand is irrelevant to what I am saying.
BTW, the fact that someone kept crushed coral in there tank for 35 years means what? I guess everyone should jump on the bandwagon?
Ken
Actually I had started out with sand in both of my reef tanks as I did not like the look of bare bottom. However after months of months of water changes, RowaPhos, blowing off the rocks, etc, it wasn't until I took the sand out that my problem disappeared almost over night. I would say within three days it was gone.
I found other things to put on the tank bottom. Not a great picture though.
Ken
I found other things to put on the tank bottom. Not a great picture though.
Ken
Paul B said:
Dam, I wish I knew that 39 years ago when I put mine in. :
But as we already know you should also pull out your under gravel filter, you shouldn't be using NSW, you shouldn't be adding sand/mud from the sea and you shouldn't be using local critters.
We had a lot of build up in ours and I am glad we pulled it but then again as my wife always says reefing is an art form and not a science. Reefing guidelines are more for the majority of people but not for everyone.