kittenbritches' Reefing Journey

[kittenbritches]

I have a python gravel vac. It’s purely siphon. The sand just needs to tumble inside the suction tube when you’re cleaning it

Yeah, mine is the same. I'm not super eager to siphon dirty tank water through a 30' hose with my mouth, though. It worked just fine on my freshwater tank in my old house. :/

 

[sp1187]

tiger conchs & nassarius snails to work the sand.
never vac the sand bed.

love your signature.

 

[Tumey]

tiger conchs & nassarius snails to work the sand.
never vac the sand bed.

love your signature.

School me please

 

[kittenbritches]

tiger conchs & nassarius snails to work the sand.
never vac the sand bed.

love your signature.

I always see conflicting info on vac vs not. So far I've figured I'll leave it alone...better safe than sorry. But the algae is making me anxious. Good thing I couldn't vacuum with what I've got anyway! Haha.

And thanks for the love. I need it! Haha.

 

[sp1187]

School me please

on?

 

[Tumey]

on?

Never vac

 

[sp1187]

i have never vac'd the sand bed.
not in my last tank which ran for 10+ years before divorce/tear down.
not in this one which got wet august 2018.
i seeded the sand bed with spaghetti and bristle worms at setup.
i keep minimum of 5 tigers and probably now have over 100+ nassarius snails from all the repro going on.
why do i want to remove a food source for all those happy critters.

also: i have zero live/dry rock in my tank.
i never run a skimmer. algae scrubber only.
kinda unorthodox i know. but it works.

 

[sp1187]

i also run high NO3 and PO4.

 

[Tumey]

i have never vac'd the sand bed.
not in my last tank which ran for 10+ years before divorce/tear down.
not in this one which got wet august 2018.
i seeded the sand bed with spaghetti and bristle worms at setup.
i keep minimum of 5 tigers and probably now have over 100+ nassarius snails from all the repro going on.
why do i want to remove a food source for all those happy critters.

also: i have zero live/dry rock in my tank.
i never run a skimmer. algae scrubber only.
kinda unorthodox i know. but it works.

Excellent, Thanks. I’m feeling like a dummy right now for telling her to vac.

I transferred tanks about 4 years ago, mostly new sand caused diatom bloom and here I thought I minimized the duration with gravel vacs during water changes.

 

[Sleeping Giant]

Tell me about it. If someone flushes while I'm in the shower, the water slows to a literal trickle. I've had the pressure tested at the main and it's fine going into the house. Somewhere, some pipe is throwing a wrench in my operation.

That's weird, might have to investigate the water lines.

 

[sp1187]

Excellent, Thanks. I’m feeling like a dummy right now for telling her to vac.

I transferred tanks about 4 years ago, mostly new sand caused diatom bloom and here I thought I minimized the duration with gravel vacs during water changes.

smarter people on here than me say to vac.
but like i said. i have a ton of stuff living down in the sand bed.

 

[sp1187]

Kit,
when little tufts of green stuff start growing, and it most likely will, don't freak out.
algae is a natural thing on the reef. lots of stuff we keep in our tanks likes to eat it.

 

[kittenbritches]

Kit,
when little tufts of green stuff start growing, and it most likely will, don't freak out.
algae is a natural thing on the reef. lots of stuff we keep in our tanks likes to eat it.

I'm still telling myself I won't get GHA. If it does rear its ugly head, I'll try to keep your words of wisdom in mind!

 

[Weasel1960]

Awesome looking tank.

 

[kittenbritches]

Awesome looking tank.

Thank you!

 

[Dom]

May I make a suggestion?

You might want to push your rocks cape closer together, It appears very close to the sides which will make cleaning the glass around the rock impossible without moving it.

 

[cwerner]

Hello Kit, I know this is quite a new tank, but please let me know how that fuge is working for you once you've actually got nutrients to export. I'm considering using a HOB fuge for my 50g AIO for export. Either that or an algae scrubber.

As a suggestion of my own, in my first tank I had issues with algae in my first tank and actually dosing MicroBacter7 regularly with some aggressive protein skimming actually really helped me get it under control, YMMV.

 

[kittenbritches]

Sneaking in a water change between meetings this morning. My corals from the @Pieces of the Ocean live sale came this morning, as well as some chromis, a brittle star, and a hammer coral. I told the FedEx guy I need to lay off the ordering and he said he doesn't mind seeing me, so I guess I'll put that feather in my cap today.

If someone would come do my job today so I can just take care of my tank, that would be great. My work anxiety is killing me. ;Dead

 

[captainbeardly]

Sneaking in a water change between meetings this morning. My corals from the @Pieces of the Ocean live sale came this morning, as well as some chromis, a brittle star, and a hammer coral. I told the FedEx guy I need to lay off the ordering and he said he doesn't mind seeing me, so I guess I'll put that feather in my cap today.

If someone would come do my job today so I can just take care of my tank, that would be great. My work anxiety is killing me. ;Dead

Tank looks good I have a 40B myself!

 

[kittenbritches]

May I make a suggestion?

You might want to push your rocks cape closer together, It appears very close to the sides which will make cleaning the glass around the rock impossible without moving it.

There's actually only one that is pretty close to the edge, but I have a tool that can get between there for that 1/4" x 1" spot. If it wasn't a load-bearing rock, I'd probably try to scootch it a bit more, but I'm not worried about it.