Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

[xiholdtruex]

Here is a short video of the tiny amount of cyano and tank one week after.

Any recommendations as far as perameters.

 

[brandon429]

thank you so much, its the envy of every large tanker. You have a fully and completely unfair reset button. Attribute any ecological insult we want, bcuz its just not fair...the rip cleaned reef, done harsh, done right, is a gem getting buffed. That's an ecosystem above brought from eutrophic conditions to oligotrophic conditions, and registering the improvement of water along the way, attributed solely to detritus maintenance and no other form of ecological guiding if I am correct on the full application here.

It removes all secrets, all artistry of the reserved masters to know you can just rip clean any reef and instantly make it 98% behave. its too good to be true
they said nothing happens good in reefing that's fast. not true. get uninvaded, fast.

You willed this tank into compliance, no tricky science or chemistry was at work here

human resolve did this, all of this. that's the most important theme of the entire thread, placed will into repeatable action, the tank shines. others will copy and benefit from your documentation and works, guaranteed.

your reef was forced to attend zumba, against its will. and it did rise to occ. its literally a work out for the system to be flushed, de clouded, unclogged, its a storm simulation.

there's an analog for what we do in nature.

the best part of your works-your tank is hungry to take in fuel reserves

be blast feeding it, make those anems get pht

then when it builds up, rip it again. then on the next round, don't feed so much and it'll go a long time.

that little fattening interval, knowing you can el rippo one more time like nothing, is a mass building cheat and your corals walk around all rounded shoulders heavy treading. theyre constantly eating protein shakes and taking nitro fuel so veins look unnatural 24x7

*prediction based on prior works:

your glass cleaning goes noticeably to nil, and sustains, for a good while.

 

[xiholdtruex]

Now my question is on that same rock with the quarter sized cyano. Has small specs in a area of rock I cannot reach with a brush what do you recommend?

I feed the nems once a week mysis. Clown gets 3 small pellets every 3 days

thank you so much, its the envy of every large tanker. You have a fully and completely unfair reset button. Attribute any ecological insult we want, bcuz its just not fair...the rip cleaned reef, done harsh, done right, is a gem getting buffed. That's an ecosystem above brought from eutrophic conditions to oligotrophic conditions, and registering the improvement of water along the way, attributed solely to detritus maintenance and no other form of ecological guiding if I am correct on the full application here.

It removes all secrets, all artistry of the reserved masters to know you can just rip clean any reef and instantly make it 98% behave. its too good to be true
they said nothing happens good in reefing that's fast. not true. get uninvaded, fast.

You willed this tank into compliance, no tricky science or chemistry was at work here

human resolve did this, all of this. that's the most important theme of the entire thread, placed will into repeatable action, the tank shines. others will copy and benefit from your documentation and works, guaranteed.

your reef was forced to attend zumba, against its will. and it did rise to occ. its literally a work out for the system to be flushed, de clouded, unclogged, its a storm simulation.

there's an analog for what we do in nature.

the best part of your works-your tank is hungry to take in fuel reserves

be blast feeding it, make those anems get pht

then when it builds up, rip it again. then on the next round, don't feed so much and it'll go a long time.

that little fattening interval, knowing you can el rippo one more time like nothing, is a mass building cheat and your corals walk around all rounded shoulders heavy treading. theyre constantly eating protein shakes and taking nitro fuel so veins look unnatural 24x7

*prediction based on prior works:

your glass cleaning goes noticeably to nil, and sustains, for a good while.

 

[brandon429]

A siphon hose with a little improvised dish scrub plastic scrubber attachment on the end, start siphon and scrub vacuum it'll stop soon, minor hand guiding is expected, hard to reduce every single cell first go

on water parameters, I never check em. what you've shown in your follow up tests is great, we expect numbers to grow shortly over time as accumulations come back, this is all reef tanks.

its that clouding, if you'll just lightly hand guide, siphon target cleaning without much takedown, be guiding out a couple gallons a week in work/exchanges and you are factually going to CPR this tank into compliance.

 

[xiholdtruex]

Do you recommend to do a certain amount of wc every week? Or only what comes out with hand guiding?

A siphon hose with a little improvised dish scrub plastic scrubber attachment on the end, start siphon and scrub vacuum it'll stop soon, minor hand guiding is expected, hard to reduce every single cell first go

on water parameters, I never check em. what you've shown in your follow up tests is great, we expect numbers to grow shortly over time as accumulations come back, this is all reef tanks.

its that clouding, if you'll just lightly hand guide, siphon target cleaning without much takedown, be guiding out a couple gallons a week in work/exchanges and you are factually going to CPR this tank into compliance.

 

[brandon429]

the rules is that you can never do too many water changes, so in that its the amnt it takes. It wont last forever, perhaps just occasional hand guiding until lucky grazers/conchs/snails take over the rest

the most important part is that you proportionalized everything / allows for regain of balance and eventual less work/promise.

 

[xiholdtruex]

Yep, wc wc wc wc as long as there is no detritus makes since lol I have seen the nassarius snails alot more active and you can see the sand being turned more due to this. I will continue to monitor this and record my findings for others to observe and see it as I am.

I honestly was against the rip clean and sand rinsing. Now I am seeing so much every day why it was the right course and how much of a difference it actually makes!

the rules is that you can never do too many water changes, so in that its the amnt it takes. It wont last forever, perhaps just occasional hand guiding until lucky grazers/conchs/snails take over the rest

the most important part is that you proportionalized everything / allows for regain of balance and eventual less work/promise.

 

[xiholdtruex]

Tested water parameters after doing the rip cleaning now 2 weeks. Looks perfect so far. few small dots of cyano in crevices I cannot reach but it looks like a kind of dark purple coraline is starting to cover the rocks.

Ammonia - 0 PPM
Nitrite - 0 PPM
Nitrate - 2-5 PPM
Phosphate - 0.03 PPM
PH- 8.0
SG 1.025

 

[HazMatreefer7]

I read through this whole thread after joining the forum last night. My problem is I have been dealing with Diatoms/Cyano for about a year now in my 36"x 18"x 12" 30g shallow mixed reef. I was in the camp of leaving the sand bed alone but after the "drop test" I have realized my sand is really dirty and that is fueling the growth on the sand surface. I just put the system back together after building a new stand last week and that never occurred to me to rinse the sand before the rebuild. I was wondering if using a gravel vac to siphon half the sand bed through a 100 micron filter sock into the sump would make a difference? I will strip the system down if needed but I was curious if anyone had tried that.

 

[brandon429]

Thanks tons for stopping in for sure

not been done here and yes its creative, people really by and large don't like disassembly work although its so thorough, on largish tanks that type of vacuuming in-house sounds appealing. my main brainstorms are that detritus carries the recycle risk alone, its the dangerous material because its in partially degraded states within a sandbed, among the grains..as mixes of nitrite (not harmful) and ammonia if the pockets are fresh waste stores early in the breakdown phase

can you post a pic of your tank/cross section of the bed

if its not blackened with age I bet this w be ok

this is a nutrient upwelling event in the tank (and then eventual export agreed in the sock but some will still cast about in the water) and that might kick your invader up a bit, you know as new feed into suspension but the overall net effect you describe sounds like war on an invader, its mass, attacked

so im for it so far

 

[HazMatreefer7]

Here is a closer look at the sand. This was taken this morning when I got home from work. The Algae I have an issue with comes and goes with the light cycle. My avatar shows it on the left side of the tank. I do realize that my algae issue is not as bad as others, I just want to rid my tank of it entirely.

 

[brandon429]

pics are gold, everything is in the pics and that's a great looking tank.

I do not consider it imbalanced at all just for the record, looks healthy. That's exactly the scope/low mass level of cyano that any scuba diver would see on a pristine reef. The amount conchs make quick work of, or sand sifting fish.

It's fun to point out when doing tank work that we're not really claiming there's anything wrong with the current condition on some of the send ups... we simply provide a skip cycle way of attaining a look and a predictable behavior for the reef.

In other threads we talked about the price of hesitation when an Invader sets in and the keeper doesn't keep it clean right off the bat. I personally like to see people working against anything that we can find us a primary Invader in another thread from a non compliant tank

 

[brandon429]

When I look at your rocks I don't show a history of algae or detritus retention the sand itself doesn't appear to be packed with detritus and little bits of algae this tank looks pretty clean if you want to rinse that sand and reuse it and wipe that Invader out please post the process here and we'll collect another successful outcome from a deep sandbed access.

 

[Nano sapiens]

Here is a closer look at the sand. This was taken this morning when I got home from work. The Algae I have an issue with comes and goes with the light cycle. My avatar shows it on the left side of the tank. I do realize that my algae issue is not as bad as others, I just want to rid my tank of it entirely.

I've seen this come and go for a number of years now in my old 12g. IME, the 'brown algae on the sand bed that disappears when the lights are out' issue is a nutrient excess issue. It's not only the left over food/detritus in the sand bed, but also the waste excreted by fish (ammonia excreted from the gills, mostly, and feces). I had this beat in my old 12g when I had three small fish (gobies, blennies), but when I doubled the number it came back with a vengeance and I had to work on the problem for a few months to finally resolve it. It can be controlled with careful feeding and regular vacuuming (don't forget under the base rock occasiaonlly, too), but IME the bigger and more numerous the fish...the more of a challenge it becomes.

 

[brandon429]

agreed fully

a version of this forms lightly around the edges of my pico reef and on the glass when ive been really lax on the usual weekly water changes. Forms of cyano seem to always get in, they express or not based on minor variables like light spectrum and then what I feel to be major variables such as detritus / base feed and locus of the detritus.

 

[Nano sapiens]

agreed fully

a version of this forms lightly around the edges of my pico reef and on the glass when ive been really lax on the usual weekly water changes. Forms of cyano seem to always get in, they express or not based on minor variables like light spectrum and then what I feel to be major variables such as detritus / base feed and locus of the detritus.

As we know, it is literally impossible to keep cyanobacteria, diatoms, dinoflagellates, fungii, molds and the like out of a typical live reef system. When not in bloom (which in a balanced system is the norm, thankfully), none of these are an issue and most go unnoticed. By noting a bloom early and reducing the nutrient source, or sources (but not attempting to eliminate all nutrients which would starve the coral), a reef keeper can keep their system functioning well for an extended period of time...no matter the size.

 

[HazMatreefer7]

My water had these numbers on tuesday when I last tested. I'm Working on getting Hanna Checkers for the others once the kit I have runs out. I also need a Mag testkit.
DKH=12*(API)
NO3= 5-10 ppm (API)
PO4= .05 ppm (Hanna)
Ca=21 drops/ 420ppm (API)
I have been wanting a sand sifting goby for a while, I had a banded sleeper goby in my 55g when I had that. Sadly when I moved to my current apartment I had to downsize, the move caused a crash (didn't rinse the sand/get new sand like a dummy) and he died. I have 1 clown, 2 green chromis and a banghai cardinal in my 30g and was afraid to add another fish because of the algae presence. You all think 5 fish in a shallow 30g would be too much?

 

[xiholdtruex]

My water had these numbers on tuesday when I last tested. I'm Working on getting Hanna Checkers for the others once the kit I have runs out. I also need a Mag testkit.
DKH=12*(API)
NO3= 5-10 ppm (API)
PO4= .05 ppm (Hanna)
Ca=21 drops/ 420ppm (API)
I have been wanting a sand sifting goby for a while, I had a banded sleeper goby in my 55g when I had that. Sadly when I moved to my current apartment I had to downsize, the move caused a crash (didn't rinse the sand/get new sand like a dummy) and he died. I have 1 clown, 2 green chromis and a banghai cardinal in my 30g and was afraid to add another fish because of the algae presence. You all think 5 fish in a shallow 30g would be too much?

I think 5 fish is good as long as your on top of you maintence and have your cuc in order.

 

[xiholdtruex]

My water had these numbers on tuesday when I last tested. I'm Working on getting Hanna Checkers for the others once the kit I have runs out. I also need a Mag testkit.
DKH=12*(API)
NO3= 5-10 ppm (API)
PO4= .05 ppm (Hanna)
Ca=21 drops/ 420ppm (API)
I have been wanting a sand sifting goby for a while, I had a banded sleeper goby in my 55g when I had that. Sadly when I moved to my current apartment I had to downsize, the move caused a crash (didn't rinse the sand/get new sand like a dummy) and he died. I have 1 clown, 2 green chromis and a banghai cardinal in my 30g and was afraid to add another fish because of the algae presence. You all think 5 fish in a shallow 30g would be too much?

Do you have a sump, skimmer and refugium also? How often and what are you feeding?

 

[brandon429]

supporting water changes and gear for export like mentioned above sounds ok to me given not much sandbed to be trapping all that waste

perhaps bare bottom, or at least scaped in such a way as to be fully cleanable any time, not a dsb for sure in my opinion.

the direct measure for whether or not 5 fish's filtration needs are being met is a verified accurate no free ammonia reading after a day running and then over a few days to chart. if you have enough surface area for fish waste to be rendered neutral, then from there on out its all disease and algae tuning between the fish and tank/ corals wont mind much either way given good lighting and occasional feed