miniwhinny Posted August 23, 2010 Author Share Posted August 23, 2010 I added sand a couple of weeks ago and it's getting covered in diatoms...is this to be expected with new sand? It wasn't "live" - I just bought the dry stuff (of course rinsed it really well first). There shouldn't be a cycle because all of the rocks came right out of an established tank into this one. Is it usual to get a diatom outbreak with new sand? Link to comment
animalmaster6 Posted August 23, 2010 Share Posted August 23, 2010 Hey Mini, can you put contest in your title? I added sand a couple of weeks ago and it's getting covered in diatoms...is this to be expected with new sand? It wasn't "live" - I just bought the dry stuff (of course rinsed it really well first). There shouldn't be a cycle because all of the rocks came right out of an established tank into this one. Is it usual to get a diatom outbreak with new sand? Yes very common. Link to comment
miniwhinny Posted August 23, 2010 Author Share Posted August 23, 2010 Hey Mini, can you put contest in your title? Yes very common. Thanks...animalmaster6 = Oh, sorry I put in in the lower line...will add to top line also Link to comment
monosyth Posted August 23, 2010 Share Posted August 23, 2010 Beautiful clowns! I don't normally like the Picassos. Grade B stands for Beautiful! Link to comment
miniwhinny Posted August 23, 2010 Author Share Posted August 23, 2010 Beautiful clowns! I don't normally like the Picassos. Grade B stands for Beautiful! Thanks My LFS gets A's and B's but I prefer having the balance with the red, white and black. Link to comment
miniwhinny Posted September 1, 2010 Author Share Posted September 1, 2010 Dear diary,(lol) I lost the sand !!!! No wonder we need all kinds of fancy equipment...it's all there to balance out the FILTH collected by the sand ! I've had BB tanks for years and never had a nutrient problem within a month of adding sand I had hair algae growing everywhere. So the sand went bye-bye and the c**p that it released was unbelievable!!!! I literally took 3 days to clear the water up and a week of blowing the rocks and running a filter sock to remove the debris. I'm back to a spotless tank - and happy . Hair algae isn't spreading and good old turbo is removing what's left. I'm not going to pretend that BB looks as natural as a sandy bottom - it doesn't, but I LOVE how clean it stays and in a small captive environment that's what I'm striving for. I'm going one step further before I get livestock and investing in a VorTech MP20 to get more movement. Link to comment
Oats Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 the sand went bye-bye and the c**p that it released was unbelievable!!!! Yeah, you are right about that! Link to comment
miniwhinny Posted September 11, 2010 Author Share Posted September 11, 2010 Well today I'm "tankless" ! My tank had some strange marks inside the front pane of glass. I have no idea what it was but it wouldn't come out and it was so distraction that your eyes were looking at the marks and not at the stuff in the tank Anyhow the manager of our local Petco told me to being it back and exchange it. I took everything out and put it in an empty 20 and now have a new empty tank sitting in my living room ! It's a giant PITA but I'd rather sort it out now than be mad for years looking through a smear ! Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted September 11, 2010 Share Posted September 11, 2010 Well that's annoying. Link to comment
got2envy Posted September 11, 2010 Share Posted September 11, 2010 I hear ya! I did it with my last 40long...I scratched the glass with a magfloat...I had black tahitian moon sand :/ better now than later! Link to comment
miniwhinny Posted September 11, 2010 Author Share Posted September 11, 2010 It is annoying. It was weird too. It wasn't a scratch. It was almost as if the glass was dull...almost frosted...but you could only see it when the halide light was on behind it. Oh well at least Petco was good enough to swap it out. Link to comment
miniwhinny Posted September 13, 2010 Author Share Posted September 13, 2010 So here we are back to day one ! An empty tank again lol Link to comment
miniwhinny Posted September 13, 2010 Author Share Posted September 13, 2010 I love to run my tanks BB but I'm painfully award that they just don't look as nice as ones with sand. SO I was trying to think of a way around it Ta-Dah....I went to Lowes and purchased some of the Valspar "Stone" textured spray paint. I couldn't decide which color I liked the most so I got both lol. Santa Fe Sand and Alabaster. I had some spare pieces of glass so I practiced on them. I sprayed the clors on their own on each end and a mixture in the middle to see what I liked. I LOVE the mix. It looks JUST like real sand !!!! So I'm gong to paint the under side of the bottom and practiced the same technique with the blues...light on top mixing to dark below Link to comment
miniwhinny Posted September 13, 2010 Author Share Posted September 13, 2010 Thanks Who said you can't have your cake and eat it too lol Link to comment
cameraman_2 Posted September 13, 2010 Share Posted September 13, 2010 Good thing you decided to change out the aquarium now. Link to comment
miniwhinny Posted September 13, 2010 Author Share Posted September 13, 2010 Oh for sure ! Hey it's an ill wind that blows no good lol Link to comment
ajmckay Posted September 14, 2010 Share Posted September 14, 2010 Very interesting. You know I've always wanted to get more creative with my backgrounds. The only problem is that my art skills suck. I have a buddy who's good at airbrushing and I thought it would be cool if he could somehow paint on some "reef shapes" so that it looks almost like the reef extends further back beyond the tank... I'm looking forward to seeing how the tank turns out. Link to comment
Pudding Posted September 14, 2010 Share Posted September 14, 2010 That blue one is really cool. I might do something similar. Do you think it'd look as cool if the gradient was from bottom up? Link to comment
miniwhinny Posted September 14, 2010 Author Share Posted September 14, 2010 Thanks It's planned to be from bottom up, sorry it's confusing because I took the picture sideways...I have three colors that I'm using Valspar Black, Royal blue and pacific blue. I'm spraying a very thin layer of black starting at the bottom to darken the royal blue even more and fading out about 1/3 of the way up...then the royal blue will over spray it and go up fading/blending into the pacific blue. I'm nervous about doing it but on my practice glass it came out really well. I'm hoping the halide light will lighten up the lightest blue even more close to the "surface". Link to comment
miniwhinny Posted September 14, 2010 Author Share Posted September 14, 2010 Taking it one step further I'm thinking of taking the "sand" up the back wall 2 or 3 inches. I have to practice first but I want to fade out the sand layer as if it's going off into the distance. I'll post my attempts here later today when I give it a shot Link to comment
star27624 Posted September 14, 2010 Share Posted September 14, 2010 Good luck and keep us posed on how the sand fade out to blue goes. It sounds like a great concept. Link to comment
miniwhinny Posted September 14, 2010 Author Share Posted September 14, 2010 Good luck and keep us posed on how the sand fade out to blue goes. It sounds like a great concept. I practiced on an old 5 gallons I have and while it looked REALLY great and I'd encourage anyone with a rimless tank give it a shot....it highlighted the black rim too much as a dividing line. I loved how the sand just faded off into the distance but my eyes kept getting drawn to the black line. So I left the sand on the bottom only....I've sprayed one layer...going back in a minute to add layer two. I've already done the back wall with it's fade effect...not sure how it's going to look because it's all taped over still..... I did add one small surprise to it though....... Link to comment
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