After listing to Michael Paletta’s talk at Macna I have decided to remove all the sand from my 34g. I plan on taking out 30g of water then the rock and live stock and shop vac the rest. Then rinse the live rock in some old water, reassemble and add new water and live stock. Has anyone done this and can offer any suggestions? I am doing this because my tank likes flow and im tired of sand showers. I really like sand, but I can always add it later.
Removing all sand in 0ne shot
- Thread starter Ghxst
- Start date
Whoops I should know better. Tank is a Red Sea max 130d, been running 3.5 years, mixed reef. About 2
inches of sand, 40-50 lbs of like rock. Corals does great but after a power outage issue in April and 3 issues with mp40 blasting all of the sand everywhere I think it's become an issue and screwing with phosphates. Everything else is good, normal reef perams.
I read a lot and the above procedure seemed the best without shocking the system. Has anyone done this?
inches of sand, 40-50 lbs of like rock. Corals does great but after a power outage issue in April and 3 issues with mp40 blasting all of the sand everywhere I think it's become an issue and screwing with phosphates. Everything else is good, normal reef perams.
I read a lot and the above procedure seemed the best without shocking the system. Has anyone done this?
I guess my big concern would be an algae bloom like 2 weeks after the sand is removed. Why not siphon out like 1/4 of the sand during a normal WC over the course of 4 weeks. Doing it slowly eases the potential stress to the system and livestock and may save you some headaches of a GHA or cyano outbreak. Sometimes it's not about what you can do and get away with it, its about doing whats right for the system and its inhabitants. Just my $0.02!
Removing all the rock is going to cause a bit of a cycle. I'd be ready to do a few small water changes while everything settles down. Without getting into an argument, I'd just replace 50% of the sand. Sand beds are great at filtration. But if you insist... Just plan for the worst and hope for the best. Basically, you are moving the tank. Just leaving it in one place if you know what I mean.
I'm curious as to what part of mike's presentation prompted you to do this? I recall him stating that over the years he has gone back and forth many times between bare bottom and sand. I think currently his tank/s are bb but I don't seem to recall him saying anything that really favored one over the other.
Cool thanks for the tips. I was going to do this earlier today but ya stopped me. The reasoning behind the methods I was reading remove all the sand at once vs over time is to take out all the nutrients in one shot to prevent opening up rich layers of stored nutrients over and over aka algae outbreaks and cycles. I thought that would be a good time to shake the poop out of the rocks and give everything a nice cleaning. Then I was going to rely on the live rock to keep everything going from there on out. It's good mature rock that's been in tanks for over 10 years, and I got it 3.5 years ago. I'm not sold on either bb or sand, I love sand but from reading a lot on sand time bombs and terrible personal experiences with sand in a nano, I'm willing to try something new. I'll keep some sand going in the quarantine tank, that's been running for a year now.
let me also clarify the issues I had:
1. First issue leading to my tank become filthy. My mp40 slid down my blowing 75% by sand everywhere. Cause minor blooms, easier to clean then to diatoms for a week on, off.
2. Power outage on Easter dropped temps to 66-65 according to my old rkl and 64 according to an aquacontroller from 2004. Only death was a shrimp but I did see dead amphipods. Weeks later I had a lot of diatoms and a month later I had hair algae from a small cycle. Water changes prevented fish or coral loss but I did lose all my margarita and trochus snails.
3.Then the nano korella in the back that moves water behind the rock moved to an angle and blew the sand under the rocks out. Enough said it was like taking a massive crap in the tank. I lost a couple zoas and a softball size colony of birdnest I had since it was a tiny frag.
From what you guys posted, you made me rethink taking action today. The first thing I learned in the hobby is to take things slow and it's worked so far. I will think about replacing the current sand with clean cycled sand. Or finding a way to safely make the switch. Thanks again!! I've been patiently fixing the issues for months and making progress, I just don't want any more issues!
Thunder, I stuck around after and asked a few questions with the speaker. Another guy asked about bb and he said it was the best way to go. He said he had online info on how to do it but I'm still looking for it.
let me also clarify the issues I had:
1. First issue leading to my tank become filthy. My mp40 slid down my blowing 75% by sand everywhere. Cause minor blooms, easier to clean then to diatoms for a week on, off.
2. Power outage on Easter dropped temps to 66-65 according to my old rkl and 64 according to an aquacontroller from 2004. Only death was a shrimp but I did see dead amphipods. Weeks later I had a lot of diatoms and a month later I had hair algae from a small cycle. Water changes prevented fish or coral loss but I did lose all my margarita and trochus snails.
3.Then the nano korella in the back that moves water behind the rock moved to an angle and blew the sand under the rocks out. Enough said it was like taking a massive crap in the tank. I lost a couple zoas and a softball size colony of birdnest I had since it was a tiny frag.
From what you guys posted, you made me rethink taking action today. The first thing I learned in the hobby is to take things slow and it's worked so far. I will think about replacing the current sand with clean cycled sand. Or finding a way to safely make the switch. Thanks again!! I've been patiently fixing the issues for months and making progress, I just don't want any more issues!
Thunder, I stuck around after and asked a few questions with the speaker. Another guy asked about bb and he said it was the best way to go. He said he had online info on how to do it but I'm still looking for it.
I see! Did Mike tell you much about the mud fuge he runs? I'm no expert when it come to DSB vs SSB vs RSB (remote sand bed), etc, etc but it would make sense that Mike would have better luck going between sand and no sand just due to the fact that he does use a mud fuge which may or may not act like a remote DSB. Like I said no expert these are just my thoughts so take them for what you feel they are worth.
I went on this same quest awhile back and in the end I went to the folks that I personally know have amazing tanks and have had them long term. They all use sand. Plus keep in mind if you like Wrasses at all you are going to need sand. Those hobbyists that I look up to and try to learn from pretty much all say to siphon out a small bit at a time and replace with a funnel and tube. If you stay on top on it its just a small section every 3-6 months.
I went on this same quest awhile back and in the end I went to the folks that I personally know have amazing tanks and have had them long term. They all use sand. Plus keep in mind if you like Wrasses at all you are going to need sand. Those hobbyists that I look up to and try to learn from pretty much all say to siphon out a small bit at a time and replace with a funnel and tube. If you stay on top on it its just a small section every 3-6 months.
Mud Fuge! Yes that is what he recommended, (fiji mud?). I am so glad everyone talked me out of this while I was in the moment, you stoped me from doing something dumb. I was going to add a hob fuge for mud but that wouldn't be for some time, after i finish the mod for the new skimmer, light and cheato in the back. Wow on the sand, I always take the very top off, but so little its been 3.5 years and there isn't much missing. I thought if I took a section away a bunch of nutrients would leak out.
What should I do now? Can I move some of the older sand to the side and add more in? Do the rocks need to be cleaned at all? Should I buy a bag of sand for the replacement sand and keep the rest alive in the quarantine or is it better to get small amounts of sand from other established tanks? The tank is getting nasty, it was getting better then this weekend it got all filmed up on the glass, diatoms on the bottom and more gha. All of the perms read good and the corals are open and looking good, mind you through this all I lost 2 types of zoas but all the rest are multiplying well.
Thanks again for all the help!
Ghxst;327755 said:
What are the risk of taking live sand from other tanks? I don't count bristle worms as pest 
unless I should....
unless I should....