Fluidized sand for QT?

[Gobi-Wan]

Hey all, I was thinking about how I could build a QT setup with stuff I already have around. I have seen some info here and there about fluidized sand filtration and how efficient it is for bio filtration and started to wonder if it would be an effective way to do QT. I mean the sand is always in motion and having the copper and whatever medication pumped through it all the time so it shouldn't be able to hold onto ich or velvet or whatever, theoretically? I was planning to vinyl-hose the output from a 150gph powerhead into a glass cylinder to fluidize the sand, and put some mechanical media on the intake of the powerhead using the top half of a bottle. Could make a pouch of carbon to use when necessary. Just brainstorming and wondered if anyone had experience with fluidized sand for this use.

 

[lion king]

I don;t see a problem with it, if it does absorb copper in any way, you should be testing your copper to maintain a therapeutic level anyway. Then just reverse to remove using cuprizorb, if any was absorbed it will release back into the water column to be sucked up by the cuprizorb.

I use varying methods of filtration in my qt but I've only used prazi pro and copper, I strip everything down when I have to use antibiotics or other meds like cp which you can't test for. Anything that can absorb these meds would throw off your dosing and there would be no way for you to know.

 

[Gobi-Wan]

The thought was that I would then be able to leave water in just the filter until next time I need the QT system and then I would have a ready-to-go bio filter

 

[sbash]

I know this is an old thread, but I thought I would chime in. I've been experimenting with fluidized sand for some almost a year on my clownfish tanks. I haven't applied the scientific method yet, but I have to rebuild the system in a few month due to a move, so I will be able to test the filter capacity and eliminate live rock from that system entirely. Right now I have about 50 lbs of live rock and three small fluidic filters (I can probably pull the live rock right now, but I don't really care), probably 2 lbs of sand total and close to 300 clowns, mostly 1.5" some 3"+; all in about 75 gallons of water volume.

Anyway, it just seems like a no-brainer to use on a QT and I will be putting a sand filter on my next QT. Anecdotally, the sand also seems to cycle very quickly, like a few days with some bottled bacteria. If the QT system gets infected or tainted, it would be cheap and easy to discard the sand and start over. For $10 CAD I got a couple left over bags (already opened) from the local pool shop, which probably totalled 20 lbs.

 

[Gobi-Wan]

I know this is an old thread, but I thought I would chime in. I've been experimenting with fluidized sand for some almost a year on my clownfish tanks. I haven't applied the scientific method yet, but I have to rebuild the system in a few month due to a move, so I will be able to test the filter capacity and eliminate live rock from that system entirely. Right now I have about 50 lbs of live rock and three small fluidic filters (I can probably pull the live rock right now, but I don't really care), probably 2 lbs of sand total and close to 300 clowns, mostly 1.5" some 3"+; all in about 75 gallons of water volume.

Anyway, it just seems like a no-brainer to use on a QT and I will be putting a sand filter on my next QT. Anecdotally, the sand also seems to cycle very quickly, like a few days with some bottled bacteria. If the QT system gets infected or tainted, it would be cheap and easy to discard the sand and start over. For $10 CAD I got a couple left over bags (already opened) from the local pool shop, which probably totalled 20 lbs.

Just curious how this went for you and if you learned anything important from it? I never ended up doing fluidized sand.

 

[sbash]

Just curious how this went for you and if you learned anything important from it? I never ended up doing fluidized sand.

Thanks for following up, I did learn quite a bit over the last few months...

I switched from running a couple the Phosban 150 sized reactors, to running two 550s. This allowed me to eliminate the liverock. However, initially I was running with Mag5 pumps and 2 cups of sand, which is not enough sand or pumping power. I had a 1000gph pump handy, and it improved the filter a little bit on the one reactor. So, I'm going to run some tests with the 500 reactor using a Jabeo DCT-12000 (with controller).

The cycle time with the 550s and the smaller pumps was twice as long as with the 150 and an MJ1200. I figure this was due to the lack of 'tumble' in the larger reactors. Even with $100 in various bottled bacteria, it took way to long to cycle the 550s.

I'm going to start formal testing shortly. I'm in the process for moving and I don't have any inventory left, plus it's the end of the season, so there is little sense in restocking my tanks until after summer. As mentioned above, I'll test with a large variable pump and the 550 reactor, putting in as much sand as possible (all in a 20 gallon tote). I'll also use two 150 sized reactors and a mag5 (with manifold) on a 70 gallon QT tank to prove its efficacy.

 

[sbash]

Just curious how this went for you and if you learned anything important from it? I never ended up doing fluidized sand.

I cycled my QT this month with sand filters. I fired up two Phosban 150 sized reactors using a Mag5 with a manifold. I used 12 oz of sand in one and 6 in the other. The one with 12 spewed most of it out, so it probably has 8oz now.

I started in just a basin, while I set up the actual 4' quarantine tank. From dry sand to fully cycled took three weeks. I started with bottled bacteria, which could be inert, but it was ineffective. So I seeded with a small live rock. I waited until I could easily process over 2ppm in 12 hours, I'm pretty sure it was 4ppm, but I didn't capture that data. Basically I cycled using 3ml of ammonia, and eventually doubled that when I could process in 12 hours.

I added several fish at once, last Thursday. Keeping Prime on hand, of course. A small kole tang, a couple gobies, wrasse, a couple cardinals, and a chromis. So far so good, have been testing twice a day with 0ppm each time.

 

[Gobi-Wan]

this is excellent and pretty much confirms what I suspected all along. I think a very small amount of fluidized sand is equivalent to many many times its mass in live rock.

 

[sbash]

this is excellent and pretty much confirms what I suspected all along. I think a very small amount of fluidized sand is equivalent to many many times its mass in live rock.

Yeah, pretty much. The breeders I work with use very large ones to support thousands of fish, so it makes sense.

I stopped testing ammonia a couple weeks ago, all fish are still fine and healthy. I haven't tested nitrates, but the caulerpa I threw in there is growing quickly and I feed heavily, so I suspect it is getting up there. This was the case when I last ran these filters for my clownfish livestock tanks. So my plan is to tie in a macro grow out tank (or several) to offset the nutrients, limit the need for water changes, and grow beneficial macro algaes...

 

[Gobi-Wan]

Yeah, pretty much. The breeders I work with use very large ones to support thousands of fish, so it makes sense.

I stopped testing ammonia a couple weeks ago, all fish are still fine and healthy. I haven't tested nitrates, but the caulerpa I threw in there is growing quickly and I feed heavily, so I suspect it is getting up there. This was the case when I last ran these filters for my clownfish livestock tanks. So my plan is to tie in a macro grow out tank (or several) to offset the nutrients, limit the need for water changes, and grow beneficial macro algaes...

I used to have major phosphate problems, then built my own ATS and now I have more trouble keeping nutrients above zero. Its a powerful way to control phosphate and nitrate, in case you're looking for something. My corals love it when I don't do a water change for a long time... weekly water changes after i built the ATS lead to a dino outbreak. Unfortunately I don't really dose anything except kalkwasser so i have to eventually do water changes for nutrients im not dosing.