Murphs_Reef Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 So my sand is a nightmare. Grubby always difficult to keep debris free I am really keen on removing it all and replacing with a shallow layer of fine sand or leaving bare, what would the impact be in removing it all in one via a syphon? Or should this be done over a few weeks or water changes? It's good to talk... Link to comment
NinjaReefer Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 Im no expert but one thing that comes to mind is that sand provides some buffering as well as bio filtration. Removing it all at once may cause some instability. There may also be waste trapped in there that you dont want to release. I would probably just syphon out a little at a time over a number of water changes. It may be possible to remove it all at once with no problems, but I would just play it safe and do it a little at a time. Link to comment
Murphs_Reef Posted October 20, 2015 Author Share Posted October 20, 2015 Yeah I suppose kinda guessed that this would be the case as when I do my weekly a bit of debris is released in the water column. Mi think your prob right to go slow.. I still have play sand on the bottom layer which I have been very keen to remove (first of many school boy errors when starting out) so silicates are an issue as are the annoyance that is diatoms that come with silicates... Link to comment
vlangel Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 Yeah I suppose kinda guessed that this would be the case as when I do my weekly a bit of debris is released in the water column. Mi think your prob right to go slow.. I still have play sand on the bottom layer which I have been very keen to remove (first of many school boy errors when starting out) so silicates are an issue as are the annoyance that is diatoms that come with silicates... I am definitely not trying to talk you into keeping your play sand but I had a DSB for over 10 years of play sand and the silicate was great for tunicates and sponges. Link to comment
ajmckay Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 Im no expert but one thing that comes to mind is that sand provides some buffering as well as bio filtration. Removing it all at once may cause some instability. There may also be waste trapped in there that you dont want to release. I would probably just syphon out a little at a time over a number of water changes. It may be possible to remove it all at once with no problems, but I would just play it safe and do it a little at a time. I would agree. Do it in chunks. There's also some biological filtration happening there and removing too much at once would cause a deficiency there. Link to comment
xmas_one Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 I removed a 3-4" deep bed on a 24x18x18" tank with no problems. I did it in four water changes, one per week. I fully removed the front left quadrant, then the right front, then the two rear sections. Key is to remove the whole thickness with the siphon all at once, if you try to remove it in layers you're asking for trouble. Link to comment
Murphs_Reef Posted October 21, 2015 Author Share Posted October 21, 2015 Thanks all, I'll keep you posted on progress Link to comment
ndrobey Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Maybe you just need a clean up crew to keep the sand bed clean for you. Link to comment
Murphs_Reef Posted October 21, 2015 Author Share Posted October 21, 2015 Maybe you just need a clean up crew to keep the sand bed clean for you. I do have a CUC of crabs, snails, worms etc I guess that's my part of it.. I'm really struggling with the look of the tank also Link to comment
ndrobey Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Perhaps a diamond goby would help. Link to comment
ajmckay Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 A sand sifting goby would certainly stir things up, but they almost need more... I had one in my 40b and that thing went through every inch of sand multiple times per day... I'm sure I had no flora/fauna left! Link to comment
Murphs_Reef Posted October 27, 2015 Author Share Posted October 27, 2015 So I have now removed around a quarter of my sand bed, I may well be imagining it but every thing has come to life and the algae issues I have been suffering have significantly subsided. Nitrate and phosphate levels seem the same, but I guess though I have swapped out a lot of water and removed a bunch of gunk there is less algae to suck up all the free nutrients so the readings make sense? Defo going to reduce to an inch of sand or less just for aesthetics... Link to comment
ajmckay Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 So I have now removed around a quarter of my sand bed, I may well be imagining it but every thing has come to life and the algae issues I have been suffering have significantly subsided. Nitrate and phosphate levels seem the same, but I guess though I have swapped out a lot of water and removed a bunch of gunk there is less algae to suck up all the free nutrients so the readings make sense? Defo going to reduce to an inch of sand or less just for aesthetics... Good move Link to comment
Murphs_Reef Posted November 9, 2015 Author Share Posted November 9, 2015 Good move Cheers, so another quarter of the sand bed has been removed this week, this time from the back which pushed up a ton of crap, I did 50% water change and perms seemed fine, I had a nitrate spike yesterday and as a result now have a good bit of algae so another 50% was changed today.. Turkey baster out and blow off the rock n substrate and scraped the glass..carbon and poly pads in a small intank filter for a few days... Looks good again but I'm assuming I'll be doing more water changes this week... The deep sand bed must have been doing a bit more than I thought! Link to comment
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