Not quite sure where to post

[Jimmyfish1]

Ok folks. I'm redoing my tank due to a mini crash brought on by laziness ignorance and negligence. Mostly my doing(or lack there of prior to..)

So my questions are...
1. Do nessarius snails, banded serpent stars, or hermits NEED sand??
2. Would a centerscape be the proper way to do things?
3. What's the best way to controllably break a rock down? Both base and live.
4. Does anyone have any diy skimmers that dont use needle wheels but impeller? (Yes a diy question, I know wrong spot but kinda in lieu)

 

[siggy]

Do you have sand now? Show some pic's, I would set up a holding tank for snails and rock that you want to keep alive.
good luck

 

[NY_Caveman]

Ok folks. I'm redoing my tank due to a mini crash brought on by laziness ignorance and negligence. Mostly my doing(or lack there of prior to..)

So my questions are...
1. Do nessarius snails, banded serpent stars, or hermits NEED sand??
2. Would a centerscape be the proper way to do things?
3. What's the best way to controllably break a rock down? Both base and live.
4. Does anyone have any diy skimmers that dont use needle wheels but impeller? (Yes a diy question, I know wrong spot but kinda in lieu)

Honestly, I do not really know your situation. I just scanned your build thread. You mentioned an issue with nitrates, but it sounds here like you want a restart. Maybe a little about why you are making big changes could help.

 

[Lukas75]

Ok folks. I'm redoing my tank due to a mini crash brought on by laziness ignorance and negligence. Mostly my doing(or lack there of prior to..)

So my questions are...
1. Do nessarius snails, banded serpent stars, or hermits NEED sand??
2. Would a centerscape be the proper way to do things?
3. What's the best way to controllably break a rock down? Both base and live.
4. Does anyone have any diy skimmers that dont use needle wheels but impeller? (Yes a diy question, I know wrong spot but kinda in lieu)

I'll answer what questions I can, although a lot is dependent on personal preference. I have definitely been guilty of LARS in the past and causing huge issues.
1. This is my opinion and each is different.
a. Nassarius - Yes, they spend most of their time under the sand.
b. Banded Serpent Star - No, I've kept them without sand just fine.
c. Hermits - No, again I've kept them just fine without sand.

2. If that's what you want go for it! In my opinion it is the easiest to deal with in terms of flow, but if you have the ability and the inclination to get flow around a different type of aquascape go for it!

3. This is a loaded question. Are you trying to do a full reboot? Just clean it up? Are there particular pests you are trying to rid the system of?

4. No idea

 

[Jimmyfish1]

Do you have sand now? Show some pic's, I would set up a holding tank for snails and rock that you want to keep alive.
good luck

I do. Also I have set up a holding already and transferred for the rebuild time.

 

[Jimmyfish1]

Honestly, I do not really know your situation. I just scanned your build thread. You mentioned an issue with nitrates, but it sounds here like you want a restart. Maybe a little about why you are making big changes could help.

I neglected my sand bed and vacced it and assuming caused all my current issues. Within a week after I started having issues that just snowballed

 

[NY_Caveman]

I neglected my sand bed and vacced it and assuming caused all my current issues. Within a week after I started having issues that just snowballed

Just offering my opinion. With patience any tank can come back. A full restart puts you back at square one with the same risks.

 

[Jimmyfish1]

I'll answer what questions I can, although a lot is dependent on personal preference. I have definitely been guilty of LARS in the past and causing huge issues.
1. This is my opinion and each is different.
a. Nassarius - Yes, they spend most of their time under the sand.
b. Banded Serpent Star - No, I've kept them without sand just fine.
c. Hermits - No, again I've kept them just fine without sand.

2. If that's what you want go for it! In my opinion it is the easiest to deal with in terms of flow, but if you have the ability and the inclination to get flow around a different type of aquascape go for it!

3. This is a loaded question. Are you trying to do a full reboot? Just clean it up? Are there particular pests you are trying to rid the system of?

4. No idea

Sweet thanks. I'm looking to remove sand. But I reckon just take alot out n leave a lil. And new water all together. Basically just trying to cut all the crap at the chase so I dont dump money/chems in just to lose

 

[Jimmyfish1]

Just offering my opinion. With patience any tank can come back. A full restart puts you back at square one with the same risks.

This I am aware of... but I have so many zoas otw out n trying to save what I can. I've learned a bit since initial setup. And honestly am willing to reboot... my rocks are live. So theres a plus. Also I have a deepish sand bed. So def want a thinner layer so to speak. Plus my scaping was kinda just working with my rocks unadulterated. Now I wish to break some of the larger ones down to create a centerscape for more total flow bc I had dead zones.

 

[Jimmyfish1]

One question that's been avoided thus far tho. How to contrablly break cut smash whatever these big rocks. They're too big for my 55 tbh but I'm trying to also avoid adding more base rock... or purchasing live rock... though I may spring for a couple smaller chunks of live....

 

[siggy]

How to contrablly break cut smash whatever these big rocks. They're too big for my 55 tbh but I'm trying to also avoid adding more base rock... or purchasing live rock...

Ok I think I get it. Get yourself a brute trash can if you don't have one and put/keep LR in there to keep alive while you work on it. Dimond saw blade for a coping saw at craft stores. I have a dimond blade on a 6" hand cut off grinder i use to trim rock and coral coloneies so they sit flat BUT if you have never used them please don't try this approach, also I think you can get hacksaw dimond blades too. FWIW I do a periodic vac of the sand bed, not the whole thing but areas that collect the trash.

 

[Jimmyfish1]

Ok I think I get it. Get yourself a brute trash can if you don't have one and put/keep LR in there to keep alive while you work on it. Dimond saw blade for a coping saw at craft stores. I have a dimond blade on a 6" hand cut off grinder i use to trim rock and coral coloneies so they sit flat BUT if you have never used them please don't try this approach, also I think you can get hacksaw dimond blades too. FWIW I do a periodic vac of the sand bed, not the whole thing but areas that collect the trash.

Sweet. Thank you so much. I just wasnt quite sure how to go about cleanly and effectively working the rock. That will make life so much easier too bc instead of trying to play balancing acts I can level cut everything so I can stack proper....

And the sand bed I'm just tired of... lol I might give an inch of sand in the rework...

 

[Lukas75]

Sweet. Thank you so much. I just wasnt quite sure how to go about cleanly and effectively working the rock. That will make life so much easier too bc instead of trying to play balancing acts I can level cut everything so I can stack proper....

And the sand bed I'm just tired of... lol I might give an inch of sand in the rework...

Honestly, I swore I would never do a bare bottom setup, ever. Now I have three up and none of them have sand, but I definitely understand the appeal.

 

[Jimmyfish1]

Honestly, I swore I would never do a bare bottom setup, ever. Now I have three up and none of them have sand, but I definitely understand the appeal.

I swore the bare bottom was tacky. Coming down to it... just aesthetics then what the heck cares? Lol. From all my more recent investigating and learning and readings.... bb is the least stressful for the keeper from my understanding.

 

[Lukas75]

I swore the bare bottom was tacky. Coming down to it... just aesthetics then what the heck cares? Lol. From all my more recent investigating and learning and readings.... bb is the least stressful for the keeper from my understanding.

I use starboard on the bottom, not quite a sandbed, but it looks better than bare glass.

 

[Jimmyfish1]

I use starboard on the bottom, not quite a sandbed, but it looks better than bare glass.

What is starboard?

 

[Lukas75]

It's plastic sheets. I usually use Boat Outfitters to get the sheets. They'll cut to size and ship just what you need, although you might be able to find it cheaper. Here's an FTS what it looks like new when I just set up a 40 breeder.

And a close up after four months. You can see some coraline growing on it and a bit of algae. Snails will clean it, corals will stick to it and it can be scrubbed with a scrub pad.

 

[Lukas75]

I should add that it has to be siliconed into place to keep detritus from collecting underneath it. It doesn't stick to well to it, but as long as it is weighted down with rocks it seals it well enough.

 

[Jimmyfish1]

I should add that it has to be siliconed into place to keep detritus from collecting underneath it. It doesn't stick to well to it, but as long as it is weighted down with rocks it seals it well enough.

Very very nice.. I considered painting the bottom....

 

[Lukas75]

Very very nice.. I considered painting the bottom....

I've painted the outside with an off white krylon spraypaint and it works well unless you have a center brace underneath. I usually did this when I had a sand bed so that you didn't see the bare glass if the sand was blown away from the glass. It worked so well my wife didn't even realize the bottom was exposed at one point until I pointed it out. I would do this again if I had an SSB.