well i built the plenum today and picked up a few nice pieces of base rock to help out with the aquascaping. the actual rebuild will be on saturday i think, and ill be taking pics as i do so.
thats pretty interesting good luck! we are still working on the move to the 75 from the 55 >.< lol but looks like you have got some pretty nice rocks to do some good aquascaping. did you decide if your gonna do corals or just a fish only tank yet?
oh i already have a bunch of corals. i got a hammer, some trumpets, hairy mushroom, bullseye shrooms, yumas, floridas, zoas, some gsp, a superman shroom, and a few watermellon shrooms. im just hopin that everything makes it through the rebuild. im expecting a couple casualties, but i hope it doesnt happen, lol!
[quote=“matchu627, post:3, topic:1812”]
oh i already have a bunch of corals. i got a hammer, some trumpets, hairy mushroom, bullseye shrooms, yumas, floridas, zoas, some gsp, a superman shroom, and a few watermellon shrooms. im just hopin that everything makes it through the rebuild. im expecting a couple casualties, but i hope it doesnt happen, lol![/quote]
Hey man, why not set up a ten gallon or something for your livestock until the 37 re-cycles?
well what ive got is one of those 18 gallon totes from lowes, and imma put all my stuff in that with a powerhead or two, and im using some of the old sand, some water, and some more live sand that i just picked up. im hoping that i can just put the stuff back in once every thing settles down the next day.
whatcha think?
Once oyu stir up the old sand bed you are going to have another small cycle at the very least. I wouldn’t plan on adding livestock back to the 37g for at least a week, and that is assuming a very small 1 day spike in ammonia.
[quote=“Cdangel0, post:6, topic:1812”]
Once oyu stir up the old sand bed you are going to have another small cycle at the very least. I wouldn’t plan on adding livestock back to the 37g for at least a week, and that is assuming a very small 1 day spike in ammonia.[/quote]
yeah i hear ya on that, but idk what to do with the stuff that i got. i def. dont want anything to die off, but i really think its my only option at this point. the tote wont be enough for me to keep them happy and healthy. im just hopin i get away with pissin off everything for a few days, and just hope for the best.
Using the water from the old tank will give you cycled water for the tote and as long as there is plenty of water movement and light you should be fine. I would not put fish and the corals in the same tote so the water will stay clean.
o ok, cool deal, ill just start on it a day or two earlier and keep em in the tote for a few days
+1 on what Al said, but leave the sand out of the mix, it will only hurt at this point.
If you have some cycled rock put it in your fish/coral temporary containers and a powerhead, this will give you filtration. You wouldn’t be able to move the sand into there and have it be beneficial. Cycled water vs freshly mixed salt water isn’t going to matter much, but everything would be much happier if it was placed into your old tank water, what you want is some cycled rock that contains bacteria that will keep the water clean.
yeah thats what im plannin to do right now, i just wanna minimize the time that they are in the temporary container. imma just drain half my tank into the tote, then just pull all my rock and stuff out of the tank, and put it in there. then while doing the sand thing, and adding the plenum, imma use another tote to mix up 18 gallons of fresh water, top off the plenum with some of the old sand, then fine live sand on top. fill it back up, then re-acclimate everything in buckets. i got about 50 feet of airline tubing to do the whole drip acclimation process with everything. i think that by doing this, ill minimize any casualties in the tank. i know everything will be pissed, but im thinkin ill be alright.
Sounds like you’ve thought through this very well. Just remember it’s better to have them pissed in a temp container then dead in a new one. Take your time, be sure to have a heater in each tote and light anything that needs to be lit.
I wouldn’t bother putting finer sand on top of coarser sand though. The finer sand will always sink to the bottom of the pile and the coarser sand will end up on top anyway.
[quote=“Cdangel0, post:13, topic:1812”]
I wouldn’t bother putting finer sand on top of coarser sand though. The finer sand will always sink to the bottom of the pile and the coarser sand will end up on top anyway.[/quote]
well, imma put about 5 pounds or so of the CC on top of the plenum to “seed” it and to protect it. then imma put another screen layer on top of the CC, and then add about 10 pounds of the finer sand. i basically just want it for the look of it. i dont think that too much will be able to get through to the plenum.
Ahh you did read that garf thread
[quote=“a1amap, post:15, topic:1812”]
Ahh you did read that garf thread[/quote]
hell yeah! garf is my new best friend, lol!
well last night was crazy! we emptied the tank, put all my fish, rocks and corals into a tote, and installed the plenum. i seeded it with some of the old CC, and topped it off with about 10 lbs of live sand.
added in the new base rock and we mixed some clean water with the old, and put everything in there again. we tested everything just to make sure everything was cool first though.
swapped out the sea clone with the reef octopuss, and transformed my aquaclear into a refugium.
i know i was supposed to take pics as we went along, but we had a lot of beers, and a big mess goin on till about midnight!
imma post up a few shots tonight of the new setup, and see what you guys think about it.
[quote=“matchu627, post:17, topic:1812”]
well last night was crazy! we emptied the tank, put all my fish, rocks and corals into a tote, and installed the plenum. i seeded it with some of the old CC, and topped it off with about 10 lbs of live sand.
added in the new base rock and we mixed some clean water with the old, and put everything in there again. we tested everything just to make sure everything was cool first though.[/quote]
Did you put the corals back in or are they still out? If you have any sps corals I would keep them out for now. This is a big change. Removing/turning the sand bed will cause nitrates and other gunk to be released into the water column. When the sand bed gets turned the change in available O2 will cause bacteria to die and will take time to get re-established. Keep a close eye on the tank as you ammonia levels will rise till the tank recycles.
Keep a close eye on the tank.
yeah i just put the corals back in today after doin a few tests. i dont have any sps, just lps and some shrooms.
SG-1.025
nitrates-20ppm (about a quarter of what i had)
everything else is right where i want it, but those two need a lil bit of adjusting.
a few shots from this morning
(not all the way aquascaped yet)
reef octo
skimmate after 24 hours
just another angle
