Adding sand and removing rock from existing system

mattzang · Oct 1, 2018

Hello, hopefully you guys can help me out a bit here.

I've been trying to remove my sixline wrasse for a few days now and not having much luck. In fact, no fish seems to want to go in the bottle traps I've made. I was going to give it another shot using a mirror, but I've decided I want to remove some rock from my tank and redo the scape a bit while also getting rid of the sixline.

My questions/concerns are: I probably only put 1 20 lb bag of live sand in initially and it has been ok since I have so much rock it covers a lot of area that probably isn't covered in sand. But I did egg crate on the bottom and when I remove rock I will probably be short on sand as well as I want to get a sand burying wrasse once I get rid of the aforementioned sixline. Will it be ok to add some more live sand (also any tips on how to add it in there without having a massive sandstorm)? And also, is taking the rock out and putting it in empty (no water) buckets going to kill off anything that will cause a minicycle or anything? Once I do this, should I add a bottle of biospira or dr tims instant cycle just to be safe or am I being paranoid?

I also have a ton of marinepure balls and seachem matrix in my sump if that matters at all.

(posted this in the chemistry section too as I wasn't sure which forum would be the best to put this in. if an admin wants to delete it I understand!)

Alexreefer · Oct 1, 2018

When adding new sand I tend to add sand over a period of days. You don't want to dump all your sand in at once as you will get a sandstorm and you will push out the gases trapped under your sand which help with the bacteria and you might choke your corals so what i tend to do is to put in a cup at a time And I turn off all my pumps to help sand settle faster. And for leaving the rock in a empty bin is not a good idea in my opinion. I would make enough water to cover the rocks. How long do you plan to keep the rocks out? What sand are you using as well? some sand bags have a little packet which helps to clear up the water as well.

mattzang · Oct 2, 2018

Alexreefer said:
When adding new sand I tend to add sand over a period of days. You don't want to dump all your sand in at once as you will get a sandstorm and you will push out the gases trapped under your sand which help with the bacteria and you might choke your corals so what i tend to do is to put in a cup at a time And I turn off all my pumps to help sand settle faster. And for leaving the rock in a empty bin is not a good idea in my opinion. I would make enough water to cover the rocks. How long do you plan to keep the rocks out? What sand are you using as well? some sand bags have a little packet which helps to clear up the water as well.

caribsea aragalive fiji pink 20 pound bag. I have a 50 gallon cube and only did one 20 lb bag of the same sand when I got the tank going, but I also only have like 20% of the tank not covered by rock. I figured the more rock the merrier since I was new and just wanted everything to live, but now I don't really like my scape and want to take some out.

I'd only be removing the rocks long enough to catch the wrasse.

Also, I should mention I will still have several other fish still in there which is why I'm so paranoid about causing a mini cycle. Just gotta get rid of the dang sixline!

Good tip on adding a cup or so over time, that sounds good.

PDR · Oct 2, 2018

Any particular reason you are wanting to remove the sixline?

Alexreefer · Oct 3, 2018

Ok good luck keep us posted. any other questions?

mattzang · Oct 3, 2018

Alexreefer said:
Ok good luck keep us posted. any other questions?

thanks for your help! between this thread and the other thread along with a trip to the LFS i think I have the semblance of a plan. Going to empty out some of my tank water into the buckets to temporarily store the rocks, then put it all back together as well as dump a bottle of biospira in just in case.

I keep trying to quote PDR and apparently it's not working, but I want to add some fish that the sixline will be.. rude to at the very least. Orchid dottyback & probably a red lined wrasse. My sixline has been mostly cool so far, but there are just way too many stories on here of people saying their sixlines were cool for a year or so then went the way of Ted Bundy, so I'd rather not risk it