My $200 dollar mistake

jeffery6846 · Mar 9, 2019

I have recently gotten back into the hobby after being gone for 10 years. I purchased a Red Sea Reefer 425XL (V3) and absolutely love it. I'm taking it slow and doing my research because a lot has changed while I've been gone (except one simple thing). My old tank had Hawaii black sand and I wanted to do white sand this time....

Well, when I went to the store I grabbed 80lbs of white sand and did NOT even think twice about the grain size of it. Like I said before I had the Hawaiian black sand which has a grain size of 0.25 to 3,5mm. The white sand I walked out with was 0.25-1.0mm and let me tell you I think the batch I got was 90% 0.25!!

As most of you know the Red Sea Reefer return is in the center of the tank and blows to the front of the tank, this created huge sand storms and bare bottom spots in about an hour. I tried defusing and powerheads to counteract the return flow, with little to no luck.

I ultimately decided to change the sand out since I was only two weeks into the cycle. I decided to go with the West Caribbean Reef white sand that has a grain size of 1.0-5.0mm and it is perfect for my setup and flow desires.

I drained most of the water and then started to syphon the sand. That worked well until the end, I used my shopvac to remove the remaining sand and made sure I didn't disturb what was under the rocks.

Flippers4pups · Mar 9, 2019

Glad it worked out In the end. I'm slowly removing my sand bed and will replace it soon. It was just contaminated with junk pieces.

Scurvy · Mar 9, 2019

Well done. No doubt my scape would’ve tumbled. Love that wall, Not sure I could have restrained myself from an 8 -10 foot tank in that spot.

madweazl · Mar 9, 2019

I just wanted to point out that you dont want your rocks setting on the sand, they should be in contact with the bottom of the tank so they shift in the future.

Matt Carden · Mar 9, 2019

I also ended up having to replace my fine sand bed with special grade mid cycle. My reasoning was because if I disturbed the sand, my water was cloudy for 2 days. I rinsed the original sand for a couple hours and still cloudy anytime I disturbed it.
No thanks!

Edit: Welcome to R2R!

jsker · Mar 9, 2019

Welcome back to reefing and to R2R!!

Hey at the least you caught the mistake in the beginning and you only have a slight delay

Sweet looking tank, by the way.

crusso1993 · Mar 9, 2019

jeffery6846 said:
I have recently gotten back into the hobby after being gone for 10 years. I purchased a Red Sea Reefer 425XL (V3) and absolutely love it. I'm taking it slow and doing my research because a lot has changed while I've been gone (except one simple thing). My old tank had Hawaii black sand and I wanted to do white sand this time....

Well, when I went to the store I grabbed 80lbs of white sand and did NOT even think twice about the grain size of it. Like I said before I had the Hawaiian black sand which has a grain size of 0.25 to 3,5mm. The white sand I walked out with was 0.25-1.0mm and let me tell you I think the batch I got was 90% 0.25!!

As most of you know the Red Sea Reefer return is in the center of the tank and blows to the front of the tank, this created huge sand storms and bare bottom spots in about an hour. I tried defusing and powerheads to counteract the return flow, with little to no luck.

I ultimately decided to change the sand out since I was only two weeks into the cycle. I decided to go with the West Caribbean Reef white sand that has a grain size of 1.0-5.0mm and it is perfect for my setup and flow desires.

I drained most of the water and then started to syphon the sand. That worked well until the end, I used my shopvac to remove the remaining sand and made sure I didn't disturb what was under the rocks.

Looks like a job well done!

Is there any particular reason you didn't place the rock directly on the glass to prevent a goby or other burrowing animals from digging the sand out and creating a possible crushing of the fish or, worse yet, the rock to topple over? I'm fairly certain everything is stuck together but that's always a fear of mine as I've seen it happen to other reefers. I've also seen folks put egg crate under their rocks and then fill with sand/crushed coral.

jeffery6846 · Mar 9, 2019

Scurvy said:
Well done. No doubt my scape would’ve tumbled. Love that wall, Not sure I could have restrained myself from an 8 -10 foot tank in that spot.

HA! Yes my restraint in that larger tank is because of my other hobby as you can tell by the theme of the wall. This is my attempt at maintain both hobbies that I love.

crusso1993 · Mar 9, 2019

jeffery6846 said:
HA! Yes my restraint in that larger tank is because of my other hobby as you can tell by the theme of the wall. This is my attempt at maintain both hobbies that I love.

Wondering if you have anything reef-related on any of your HD's?

jeffery6846 · Mar 9, 2019

madweazl said:
I just wanted to point out that you dont want your rocks setting on the sand, they should be in contact with the bottom of the tank so they shift in the future.

The rock is in direct contact with the bottom. However the pieces were not perfectly flat and it made the most sense to leave a little behind for stability. When adding the new sand and the little bit of water that comes in the bag is was easy to see the finer sand mixing back in. After I added 10 gallons of water back I tested and made sure the entire structure was strong and all throughout the refill process.

Gonebad395 · Mar 9, 2019

Well first off welcome to R2R!!!! A lot has changed in ten years but the basics are the same. The tank and rock work look great can’t wait to see this tank grow. With the sand better you fixed it now then later down the road with a established tank. So glad you are tanking it slow and researching your choices so many new people jump right in have problems and their lack of patience ruins the hobby for them. Again welcome and keep us updated