My Newish Tank

[oliviasmith]

Hello,

I set up a 65 gallon reef tank in September, rushed it if I'm honest and now I'm genuinely unhappy with the tank and how it looks, I just sort of threw the sand and rocks in and moved my fish as soon as I could.

So over the last few months, I have been looking at various tanks and how they're setup. I have my heart set on soft corals, macro algae, maybe even a Mangrove if one will grow in water that deep. I was just wondering if anyone has macro in their display, how deep the sand bed should be? Can I add new sand to a "live" tank or should I move the inhabitants into a separate tank for a few days? Lots and lots of question, if anyone with a similar tank has any photos and advise it would be much appreciated. (I understand a lot of you do this before setting the tank up, but I'm like a child on Christmas)

 

[tsouth]

I don't have experience with keeping macro algae in my display, but I can help with regards to adding sand to the tank.

First and foremost, I encourage you to absolutely not open a bag of sand and pour it directly into your tank. There is a considerable amount of silt and silicate particles which will cause a major cloud. The particles will travel through every crack and cranny, leaving a very fine layer of dust that is just dirty forever. Cleaning will be an endless battle for a while, and I've read danger stories unfortunately.

Going through the motions of doing this in the past, we are at:

1. Deciding whether or not you want to rinse your sand. There's much debate around this, and if you do decide to rinse, you can read about it here. I typically do - reason being is that I do not like the clouds that appear after anytime the sand bed is disturbed whatsoever. I would highly recommend it, especially in this instance where we could complete this process in a few hours.

2. Remove inhabitants into a separate tank/large rubbermaid. Keep this water heated and flowing.
3. Drain the remainder of the main tank down to ~1" or so of water and store the removed water. Keep it heated. You can either combine this with your inhabitants or keep it separate. It's really dependent on whether or not you have the extra equipment. (1 tank/rubbermaid for inhabitants + many large rubbermaids to store the water as well as heaters and powerheads for each). Make sure these are thick and can handle stress. Never fill them to the top, maybe halfway just to be safe.
4. Focusing back to the main tank, add the sand and add your rocks + aquascape
5. Take the bag that the sand came in and place it over an open area on the sand bed and then begin to pump/re-add your old water directly over the bag. Fill to 75% or so if you can. The bag will help disperse the flow softly and evenly and reduce the turbulence that may cause a sand storm.
6. Move all of your equipment back into the main aquarium, reinstall powerheads, heaters, etc...
7. If the water looks clear-ish, then check your parameters on the tank, primarily Salinity and Temperature.
8. Acclimate your live stock if you need to and then move the inhabitants back in. Pump in the remainder of the water.

Assuming there isn't much of a change, the addition of sand should not shock your system and its bacteria. I would also consider adding a bottle of bacteria to seed the tank. Not necessary but doesn't hurt either.

 

[MarshallB]

Hello,

I set up a 65 gallon reef tank in September, rushed it if I'm honest and now I'm genuinely unhappy with the tank and how it looks, I just sort of threw the sand and rocks in and moved my fish as soon as I could.

So over the last few months, I have been looking at various tanks and how they're setup. I have my heart set on soft corals, macro algae, maybe even a Mangrove if one will grow in water that deep. I was just wondering if anyone has macro in their display, how deep the sand bed should be? Can I add new sand to a "live" tank or should I move the inhabitants into a separate tank for a few days? Lots and lots of question, if anyone with a similar tank has any photos and advise it would be much appreciated. (I understand a lot of you do this before setting the tank up, but I'm like a child on Christmas)

Mangroves can grow underwater as long as they get the proper light. Do your research on other macro algaes. Most Algaes will take over the tank unless you stay on top of it weekly.

Looks like someone already covered how to add sand and rock. There is nothing wrong with changing your tank as long as you follow a few procedures to protect the inhabitants.

Do what you gotta do till you're happy with it!

 

[oliviasmith]

Mangroves can grow underwater as long as they get the proper light. Do your research on other macro algaes. Most Algaes will take over the tank unless you stay on top of it weekly.

Looks like someone already covered how to add sand and rock. There is nothing wrong with changing your tank as long as you follow a few procedures to protect the inhabitants.

Do what you gotta do till you're happy with it!

Thanks guys, I'll have a look into this a little more over the next few weeks

 

[oliviasmith]

I don't have experience with keeping macro algae in my display, but I can help with regards to adding sand to the tank.

First and foremost, I encourage you to absolutely not open a bag of sand and pour it directly into your tank. There is a considerable amount of silt and silicate particles which will cause a major cloud. The particles will travel through every crack and cranny, leaving a very fine layer of dust that is just dirty forever. Cleaning will be an endless battle for a while, and I've read danger stories unfortunately.

Going through the motions of doing this in the past, we are at:

1. Deciding whether or not you want to rinse your sand. There's much debate around this, and if you do decide to rinse, you can read about it here. I typically do - reason being is that I do not like the clouds that appear after anytime the sand bed is disturbed whatsoever. I would highly recommend it, especially in this instance where we could complete this process in a few hours.

2. Remove inhabitants into a separate tank/large rubbermaid. Keep this water heated and flowing.
3. Drain the remainder of the main tank down to ~1" or so of water and store the removed water. Keep it heated. You can either combine this with your inhabitants or keep it separate. It's really dependent on whether or not you have the extra equipment. (1 tank/rubbermaid for inhabitants + many large rubbermaids to store the water as well as heaters and powerheads for each). Make sure these are thick and can handle stress. Never fill them to the top, maybe halfway just to be safe.
4. Focusing back to the main tank, add the sand and add your rocks + aquascape
5. Take the bag that the sand came in and place it over an open area on the sand bed and then begin to pump/re-add your old water directly over the bag. Fill to 75% or so if you can. The bag will help disperse the flow softly and evenly and reduce the turbulence that may cause a sand storm.
6. Move all of your equipment back into the main aquarium, reinstall powerheads, heaters, etc...
7. If the water looks clear-ish, then check your parameters on the tank, primarily Salinity and Temperature.
8. Acclimate your live stock if you need to and then move the inhabitants back in. Pump in the remainder of the water.

Assuming there isn't much of a change, the addition of sand should not shock your system and its bacteria. I would also consider adding a bottle of bacteria to seed the tank. Not necessary but doesn't hurt either.

Thank you!

 

[RedFrog211]

I’m a huge fan of having macro my reefs! Algae barn has some awesome options some won’t do so well in less established tanks, so I’d check the reviews

 

[oliviasmith]

I’m a huge fan of having macro my reefs! Algae barn has some awesome options some won’t do so well in less established tanks, so I’d check the reviews

Ahh algae barn, I can only dream of a place so professional here in the UK... but I'm sure some palces will have some macros

 

[RedFrog211]

Ahh algae barn, I can only dream of a place so professional here in the UK... but I'm sure some palces will have some macros

Ahhh I gotcha- I’m sure you can find some on eBay or something! Just beware of hitchhikers

 

[oliviasmith]

Ahhh I gotcha- I’m sure you can find some on eBay or something! Just beware of hitchhikers

Yeah I was thinking that, how would you go about checking for hitchhikers on algae, can you just dip it like corals?

 

[terraincognita]

Yeah I was thinking that, how would you go about checking for hitchhikers on algae, can you just dip it like corals?

Check your LFS or another UK reefer.

don’t dip macro.

just find a clean source.

 

[RedFrog211]

Yeah, I wouldn’t dip macros. I’d set up a small QT (plant light and air stone) and observe them for a couple weeks before putting in DT. Obviously getting from a clean source helps, but you can never be too safe

 

[terraincognita]

Just reading original posts.

before you do more thing, in all honesty Ie been in similar situations.

what’s your stock list right now?

might be a lot easier to take a step back and fix everything up first.

You got some photos?

what are you MOST unhappy about? Your scape? Your stocking list?

if you only have a few fish and nothing else in the tank,

have the LFS hold onto your fish and then restart IMO

 

[oliviasmith]

Yeah, I wouldn’t dip macros. I’d set up a small QT (plant light and air stone) and observe them for a couple weeks before putting in DT. Obviously getting from a clean source helps, but you can never be too safe

Thats a good question aswell actually, do you guys use the same QT for fish and corals or have two separate ones?

 

[terraincognita]

Thats a good question aswell actually, do you guys use the same QT for fish and corals or have two separate ones?

Generally most reefers set up and take their QTs down upon use.

you don’t need to have an established tank for a QT.

so you could use the same tank everytime for whatever.

I however would not QT anything together.

i.e. keep fish with fish, coral with coral and algae with algae but you can use 1 tank, just do it in stages.

 

[RedFrog211]

Thats a good question aswell actually, do you guys use the same QT for fish and corals or have two separate ones?

I use the same, as long as there is no copper; but then again, I only have 2 fish.. soo