Changing sandbed on SPS only tank. Good idea?

[Brian W]

Are you sure those are dinos on the sand? Not cyanobacteria, or diatoms?

Yes 100% sure they are dinos. At first I thought it was cyano but then saw the bubbles in all of the patches I had/have.

 

[Brian W]

if the pic #1 is pretty accurate reflection of the color hue, that's on the whiter side and to select for a little bit of extra sandbed loading absent a matched grazer is still very spot-on with patterns. If it were windex blue pic I wouldnt think that...there is a strong correlation between stronger white spectrum trending towards 10K resulting in more sandbed loading/matted communities. Again that is merely a statement of patterns noted, its not meant to start a revolt/easy tunings to try.

Take pics in that nice balance above, but run it windex blue in the interim by lowering white intensity and that can sometimes curb sandbed work alone. Combined with a deep clean, its a powerful preventative we show in outcomes logged.

Along with the clean up crews mentioned for sand above, have ones that eject waste from the bed vs pack it

starfish=slow pellet producers that add to sandbed loading. same with cucs

but paired with a busy fish, that diving wrasse or a diamond gby, might have a neat working set.

I run the AB+ Spectrum. In this pic I only turned the whites up more to show a better pic of the patches.

 

[Brian W]

Cleaning a sand bed and replacing a sandbed are different things - especially if that sand is aragonite.

Aragonite buffers phosphate.


If you clean a tank and rinse the sand - you'll get rid of all the crud and detritus - and its going to reduce phosphates/nitrates/other pollutants. Great. But you're not going to change the actual amount of phosphate in the aragonite itself.

If you replace the sand - your new sand will also absorb a bunch of phosphate.

If your tank is having algae issues this probably isn't a big issue (and may be a good thing) - but if you're adding sand to an already low phosphate barebottom tank - you're asking for issues from the corresponding phosphate drop.

I have KH2PO4 that I could dose in the event that PO4 is too low. I will test daily until I'm comfortable going back to weekly. Im just not sure if the drop from my current PO4 to whatever the new sand would be enough to cause RTN or STN.

 

[Brian W]

Have you identified which Dino you are dealing with under a microscope?

Do your Dino’s leave the sand at night?

No I have not. I was going to send a sample off the Fish of Hex but have not done so yet. Yes the Dinos dissappear during the night.

 

[SMSREEF]

No I have not. I was going to send a sample off the Fish of Hex but have not done so yet. Yes the Dinos dissappear during the night.

If they leave the sand that’s good. Likely a kind that UV will get rid of quickly-if you get the right size. You don’t need to but a crazy expensive one. The green killing machine 24 watt is $74 on amazon. I dealt with Dino’s for many months with different attempts at fixing, peroxide, blackouts, bottled bacteria, increased nutrients, etc. they always came bac With UV my Ostreopsis were gone in 2 days.

This UV goes right into the main tank. It’s not pretty and I would not use it long term like the other more expensive UV that are made for saltwater. But hopefully you use it a week and then never need it again.

 

[Brian W]

If they leave the sand that’s good. Likely a kind that UV will get rid of quickly-if you get the right size. You don’t need to but a crazy expensive one. The green killing machine 24 watt is $74 on amazon. I dealt with Dino’s for many months with different attempts at fixing, peroxide, blackouts, bottled bacteria, increased nutrients, etc. they always came bac With UV my Ostreopsis were gone in 2 days.

This UV goes right into the main tank. It’s not pretty and I would not use it long term like the other more expensive UV that are made for saltwater. But hopefully you use it a week and then never need it again.

I have the 9 watt green. Killing machine that I used on my 14 gal IM Nuvo Peninsula when it had a bacteria bloom. It worked amazingly. I actually have been running this on my 40 gallon tank that has dinos for about 2 weeks now. I knew it was too small but thought I'd give it a shot. It definitely made my water crystal clear though. Ill pick up the 24 watt and see what it does. Thank you.

 

[brandon429]

what did you wind up doing, was curious


found a really neat thread on changing the sandbed in a large sps reef for more contrasting here.

120 gallon rip clean

I’ve decided to perform a rip clean on my 120 with 100% new water. The tank has been running for 5 years and was battling Dino for several months. I used the bacteria method from elegant corals and worked great I haven’t seen Dino in months now. But I tried several other methods including...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Brian W]

what did you wind up doing, was curious


found a really neat thread on changing the sandbed in a large sps reef for more contrasting here.

120 gallon rip clean

I’ve decided to perform a rip clean on my 120 with 100% new water. The tank has been running for 5 years and was battling Dino for several months. I used the bacteria method from elegant corals and worked great I haven’t seen Dino in months now. But I tried several other methods including...

www.reef2reef.com

Still building stand. I just need to get some concealed hinges and place the top and bottom plywood "floors" on the stand then I will start the process of moving the tank.

Im going to try your method. I've got my sand ready to be rinsed when I do the stand shuffle!

 

[brandon429]

Hey that's strong carpentry nice one there

 

[Brian W]

Thank you!

 

[Brian W]

@brandon429 Quick update. Building my stand has taken longer than expected. Since this post i have lost about 8 frags to RTN. I called a buddy today to give him the remaining frags that were still alive. Im done with SPS. Ivevsoent thousands of dollars over the past 5 years and the results are always the same. I really like them but I can't do it anymore. Im sorry I could not try this method.

Oh and to top it off, I had to put my 18 year old cat down last night.

RIP Nunu

 

[brandon429]

Jimmy

my goodness what a beautiful animal that’s the longest I’ve heard of a companion running with his buddy I’m so sorry we are here to help with anything so sorry J


that was one heck of a long lasting buddy so much joy brought to family I know for sure

 

[Brian W]

Jimmy

my goodness what a beautiful animal that’s the longest I’ve heard of a companion running with his buddy I’m so sorry we are here to help with anything so sorry J


that was one heck of a long lasting buddy so much joy brought to family I know for sure

Thanks man I appreciate it!

 

[brandon429]

Whatever lps or soft corals you save can be the new focus only certain montis do well in my system I bet over time we can find some that w work for you

 

[Brian W]

I had no problem with montis, digis etc. Im just done with sps all together. I've probably spent over $5000 on sps. And I sit here with an empty tank. Im.just going to stick to lps and softies from here on out.