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View Full Version : need sand bed advice (possible warhead)


chinx rican
01/31/2011, 09:14 PM
I have a 135g 72" long tank. Between my powerheads and dragon goby the sand is 1/2"-1" deep in the middle and almost 5" at the ends. My sand bed is old, dont know exactly how old, but I do know when my goby decides to dig deep I get a no3 spike. Big 10ppm spikes every time (lucky he rarely does). Im moving in 2mos. Im only moving a mile away but Im worried I have a sleeping nuke in there. I was thinking of going to the gulf, scooping 3 buckets of sand and letting it sit in a 30 gallon bin with a powerhead for a month, then chucking the existing bed out. My corals are mostly softies, some lps's and 4 bta's. If anyone sees a red flag please wave it before i take the chuteless jump.

tkeracer619
01/31/2011, 09:20 PM
Sand is cheap. Buy it in the bag so you know its clean. It will turn live from the rock.

Ditch your old sand.

chinx rican
01/31/2011, 09:34 PM
im more worried about the effects of ditching it then what going in afterwards. I have 200lbs of LR that will definitly seed sand, my worry is how to get most the water, rock, and livestock with out disurbing the bed. If my goby can cause that kind of spike i think a wrong move can cause a wipe out, or means ill have to fill with all new water which will mean ph shock for everything.

seapug
01/31/2011, 09:50 PM
im more worried about the effects of ditching it then what going in afterwards. I have 200lbs of LR that will definitly seed sand, my worry is how to get most the water, rock, and livestock with out disurbing the bed. If my goby can cause that kind of spike i think a wrong move can cause a wipe out, or means ill have to fill with all new water which will mean ph shock for everything.

You just need to plan ahead so you remove all the livestock you can before removing the rocks that are buried in the sandbed. Siphon out the water into some rubbermaid bins and put all the livestock in with powerheads or air pumps and heaters. Get the water down to a couple inches then remove the last few rocks and scoop & dump the remaining sand and water.

cherubfish pair
01/31/2011, 09:53 PM
Could you catch the goby and give to a better home?

chinx rican
01/31/2011, 10:13 PM
Problem is i cant catch any fish with the rocks in place..... way to many hiding spots. I think the best i can do is take most the water out and hope none get caught in a hole some where, then pull the rock and fish. Hurdle number 2 is will my coral die being out of water a short (maybe not so short) time.

Cuervo
01/31/2011, 10:18 PM
No, what they meant was start at the top dimantling the tank - pull the corals out and move them to a nice tub with heater/powerhead and some tank water. Then starting at the top pull the rocks out as you siphon the water down - so the rocks stay fairly submerged. Once you get down to the rocks that are stuck in the sand bed and have just a couple of inches of water left, pull the last few rocks and plan on dumping the remaining sand and water. Catch the fish whenever you can - like now that you only have a couple inches or water left, or earlier if the opportunity presents itself.

It's probably a good idea to give your rocks a shake in another vat of water to knock the loose stuff out of them while you're at it. (there's all kinds of grabage built up in there.)

If you think you can keep the corals in their transport container for a day or two, it might be worth it - just to make sure the tank doesn't go into a cycle right after you move it. (it shouldn't, but better safe than pulling all the corals out a second time)

chinx rican
01/31/2011, 10:31 PM
sound like a plan to me.... I have 4 32g tubs and 3 powerheads. heat shouldn't be an issue as i keep home at a steady 75f. and im moving only a mile away. any 411 on how to keep the bta's out of the blades while in a tub.

Cuervo
01/31/2011, 10:36 PM
hmm.. a sponge over the intake maybe?

OwenInAZ
01/31/2011, 11:00 PM
The advice given to me by a reputable LFS regarding my upcoming move was to keep the sand, rinse it well, and put it back in the tank after the move. The rationale is the following:

The sand bed is anoxic, and removing water/agitating it is going to kill the anaerobic bacteria that have stratified down there anyway. Therefore, the sandbed is going to crash either way and need to be re-stratified no matter what I do. May as well start out with the cleanest sand I can (without simply throwing money at the problem vis a vis buying new sand -- I have better things to spend my money on).

I'm going to do that in two weeks. I imagine it will work (the owner is very respected in Phoenix and I trust his advice), but in the event that it fails I have plans to distribute frags around town to repopulate.

chinx rican
01/31/2011, 11:46 PM
hmm.. a sponge over the intake maybe?

there the koralia type


The advice given to me by a reputable LFS regarding my upcoming move was to keep the sand, rinse it well, and put it back in the tank after the move. The rationale is the following:

The sand bed is anoxic, and removing water/agitating it is going to kill the anaerobic bacteria that have stratified down there anyway. Therefore, the sandbed is going to crash either way and need to be re-stratified no matter what I do. May as well start out with the cleanest sand I can (without simply throwing money at the problem vis a vis buying new sand -- I have better things to spend my money on).

I'm going to do that in two weeks. I imagine it will work (the owner is very respected in Phoenix and I trust his advice), but in the event that it fails I have plans to distribute frags around town to repopulate.


it might work but with the amount of time its going to take to properly rinse out my heavily polluted sand and the time taken up by the rest of the move, i think i opt to by new sand....not live..just the bag stuff. on top of that all the wasted ro to rinse with and the time it takes to make it....

OwenInAZ
02/01/2011, 08:37 AM
Meh, I'm going to rock the hose and not worry about it :) Might be some phosphates in there, but they'll more than likely bind up carbonate and become insoluble. It's like a bottom line sort of thing, and everyone's bottom line is different :)