Getting my BC 29 in shape

[diggman08]

put your magnet in chamber 1 between inlets.. and just face the koralia on angle and slightly upwards and it should give good suface agitatin, as well as good wavelike flow throughout the tank..

 

o yeah, def. dont forget about Dive and spanko., he has helped me alot with my new lighting

and spankos been on this site long before me

[gheagney]

Has anybody here ever dealt or known anybody who has dealt with www.marineandreef.com? They have some pretty fair prices, but I just want to make sure they are reputable or at least make sure they don't have a bad reputation. I've got my list all put together, so now it's pretty much just a matter of placing the order.

[TUDIZZLE]

Has anybody here ever dealt or known anybody who has dealt with www.marineandreef.com? They have some pretty fair prices, but I just want to make sure they are reputable or at least make sure they don't have a bad reputation. I've got my list all put together, so now it's pretty much just a matter of placing the order.

 

 

try asking in the general forum with the name in the thread title, it will get more views and hopefully more responses

[gheagney]

I was just about to do that... thanks.

[gheagney]

Well I placed an order. On the way:

A Rio 6hf pump

A Koralia 1 powerhead

12 inches of 1/2 loc line

2 flare nozzles

1 pouch of Chemi-pure Elite

 

All should be here sometime next week. This weekend I'll do a water change and probably go to the lfs and get some more CUC. Still trying to figure out exactly how I'm gonna get rid of some sand and only create a minimal impact on the tank. The syphoning idea sounds good. I think I saw a gravel cleaner in Drs. Foster and Smith, but it seems like it would be more for fresh water with the more pebble like substrate. It would be nice if there was something like that for sand that would just suck out the detrius. Either way, my guess is that in the next few weeks I'm going to see a huge difference.

[TUDIZZLE]

Can't wait to see the pics when everything gets cleaned up.

[gheagney]

Haha.... can't wait to show them.

[gheagney]

so i came up with an idea for getting rid of some sand without hopefully causing too much stress on the tank. i havent tried it yet b/c i figured i'd bounce the idea off everybody. it's basically like that siphoning idea. What if i take a big turkey baster and suck up the sand? shoudn't that in theory suck out most of the crap that i dont want stirred up along with the sand. i'd still only do like a turkey baster full or two every day or so.... i wouldn't do it all at once. does this seem reasonable?

also, did a good water change today and added a couple of nassarius snails to go along with my zebra snails. and some other mystery snail... that i was told was an olive snail. i'll post some pictures when i get some time. all i know is it basically lives in the sand. i only see it maybe once a week. also going to get some more snails (ceriths and such) and some hermits. just didnt have as much time i wanted to deal with the stuff this weekend (but i did get to go watch UCF nearly upset Texas on a side note ). and next couple days my big shipment should arrive so i can throw all that in.

[ge0]

You can probably siphon sand with a 1/2 or 1-inch hose. Just place the discharge all the way at the bottom of your bucket. Get the siphon going and start sucking up sand. The tap 1/2 to 1-inch sounds fair to me.

 

You have pretty coarse sand, but it should still work. The turkey baster would work, but you would need to cut a larger opening to get your coarse sand through it? And it will take a lot more time. I would just try a straight siphon with a 1/2 or 1-inch hose. 1/2 inch should work.

[gheagney]

You can probably siphon sand with a 1/2 or 1-inch hose. Just place the discharge all the way at the bottom of your bucket. Get the siphon going and start sucking up sand. The tap 1/2 to 1-inch sounds fair to me.

 

You have pretty coarse sand, but it should still work. The turkey baster would work, but you would need to cut a larger opening to get your coarse sand through it? And it will take a lot more time. I would just try a straight siphon with a 1/2 or 1-inch hose. 1/2 inch should work.

 

so by siphoning with my next water change, could i suck out as much sand as i want? or should i space out the removal over some time? i have alot to take out... probably half or maybe even more of whats in there now.

also, would there be any way to reuse what i take out in another tank, or should i just let it go?

[TUDIZZLE]

so by siphoning with my next water change, could i suck out as much sand as i want? or should i space out the removal over some time? i have alot to take out... probably half or maybe even more of whats in there now.

also, would there be any way to reuse what i take out in another tank, or should i just let it go?

 

I would try to to it in stages maybe over 2-3 water changes. This will help maintain the stability of the tank.

 

 

I guess if you were to spread the sand out in a baking dish and let it bake in the sun and really let it dry out it could be used again. Many people do this with live rock so I don't see why not. For my 20$ I would just go buy a new bag of LS but thats me

[spanko]

Here is the deal. You either want a shallow sand bed or a deep one. Anything in between does more harm than good collecting detritus.For a shallow about 1-1.5 inches. This allows for the aerobic bacteria that reduces ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate.Aerobic is an adjective that means requiring air (where air usually means oxygen).For a deep sand bed you want 4 or more inches. This allows for the anaerobic bacteria that reduces nitrate to nitrogen gas to multiply in the lower levels of the sand bed where there is no oxygen. And for the aerobic bacteria to multiply in the upper levels of the sand bed where there is oxygen. Anaerobic is a technical word which literally means without air (where air usually means oxygen).There are some areas in your rockwork that are oxygen free and have some of the anaerobic bacteria present but not enough to take care of all of the nitrates. This is why, amoung other reasons, we do water changes on a regular schedule. This is also why some prepare a deep sand bed in their fuges, to increase the anaerobic zone for the bacteria that live there.A quick answer that is only my understanding of sand beds. You can search for more information. JMO FWIW

 

Yea, what Tud said, don't do it all at once. Go for a bit at a time with water changes. The disruption to your bacteria colony could cause another cycle, just like stirring it up too much could. Plus I agree with him on the reuse of the sand. If you need more for something else get some new.

[gheagney]

well i got my package today and just got it all together. i got my loc line with nozzles. And i have my koralia 1. both installed. and i put in the rio 6hf. i have a few issues with it. first off, i think i need to get more tubing for for the pump. that way i can get rid of that 90 degree fitting. currently, i can't really move the pump around in the chamber because of the tubing. also, the pump seems a bit noisier than the stock pump. this may be simply because it is not situated right just yet... i'm hoping so anyway. tons of bubbles too.... not sure exactly why that is. anyway, here are a few pics. set up might look slightly familiar to a few of you haha.

 

just a few bubbles!

 

 

im gonna do some research on the pumps and what people have done with them to quiet them down, but if anybody has any tips or advice please share.

[gheagney]

so the bubbles appear to be related to the skimmer. it didnt do it before i added the new pump, but it is now. basically the bubbles are coming out of the skimmer and bubbly water is filling the second chamber, which is filling the 3rd chamber and being pushed out into the main tank. im not sure how or what to do to correct it. i might have to get in touch with sapphire and see what they think. has anybody else had this problem with the rio 6hf and the sapphire?

[fishgeek31]

if you just added the skimmer you are going to have to wait for it to break in. It should take about two weeks, you should be able to see a change in a few days.

Good luck!

[gheagney]

the skimmer has actually been in for several months. it always has had a few bubbles, but not too bad. plus there isnt too much load in the tank, which probably is why i had those bubbles. it was producing some skimmate and im sure it will eventually again. but i took apart the skimmer and cleaned it tonight just to see if that will help, so i know it will take a little time to start skimming again. but when i put the new pump in this afternoon is when the problem started as bad as you can see it the pics above. looks like the water that fizzes up is bypassing around the collection cup area and passing into the chamber which in turn passes into chamber 3 and into the display. i sent a message to sapphire to see what they have to say about it. hopefully it will be an easy fix. it sucks to spend the $$ with hopes of improving things and they end up worse than before haha.

on a side note, i put the chemipure elite in tonight..... i rinsed it for a little bit and the water continued to come out blackish, so i just put it in the tank figuring its normal. the water clouded up, but that has already basically cleared up. my problem is that the pouch wont really fit into the sponge compartment... its too big and it tries to float... i have it wedged in there somewhat. i got the 11.74 oz package that says its 1 unit... is that what everybody else has? and i moved my purigen to chamber 1... i just dropped it down to the bottom there, but is there any way to better secure it?

haha... once again, the joys of getting a tank up and running. ill keep everybody updated.

[gheagney]

well its been about 16 hours or so and the bubbles are greatly reduced. still a little worse than they used to be and i'm hoping to get them all cleared up. still waiting to hear from sapphire to see what they think. i hope its just that i have such a small load in the tank right now, but we'll see. and the chemipure cleared up from the display. i still wish it would sit down it the compartment better. and i wish the pump were a little less noisy, but i havent messed too much with it to see if i can situate it a little better and maybe reduce the noise.

all in all im in a little better spirits today now that things are starting to clear up... there may be hope yet haha.

 

 

[JCBioCube29]

You are getting the best advice from everyone it looks like you are on your way. I just started mine two weeks ago with the advice from everyone that has replied to you.

THANK YOU ALL

[gheagney]

Yeah.. the advice has been great. I really appreciate it. I'm sure things will turn around. I have been in touch with Sapphire and we are trying to get everything worked out. Just wanted to clarify though that I have no problem with the skimmer itself. I think my whole set up is just a little off right now, so I have some tweaking to do. But Kyle at Sapphire has been in contact with me and been helpful.

And I had a set back today. The only fish in my tank (yellow and black chromi) died. Not sure why just yet. I havent had time to test the water yet to see if there are any spikes of anything. Im pretty sure I removed it before it had time to start to cause any problems. Tommorow is water change day so I will test it before I do that to see what the levels are. However, I cant help but think that it has something to do with the new pump/powerhead/chemipure.

[TUDIZZLE]

updates?

[gheagney]

Well I have no real updates on the tank. Its been basically status quo. I've not added much to it since the last posts a few months ago.

I am contemplating buying a Sapphire BC29R skimmer to replace the one i have now. I also want to upgrade the lights. I really don't want to go open top though. I'm thinking of just doing the 4.36 pc upgrade as i dont plan on keeping anything very light needy in this tank. However if there are other options that would allow me to keep the top on the tank, I am very open to those as well. Other than that, I might switch the Rio 6hf out for a MJ1200 as the 6hf is a little noisier that I prefer. But its not that big of a deal b/c the stock fans are so loud anyway. If/when i upgrade the lights, i intend to get quieter fans and then i would want to get the quietest pumps possible.

So anybody with input on the lights please feel free to comment.

[Obi Juan kenobi]

Ive got a BC 29 hood with the 4.36 upgrade that Im lookin to get rid of let me know.

[gheagney]

what are you asking?

[Obi Juan kenobi]

what are you asking?

As of now Im just kinda seeing what I can get.

[gheagney]

understandable. Are you looking to keep a stock hood for the future or are you just looking to get rid of yours?