Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

[brandon429]

Hey can we see before pics just to see if anything stands out initially

Most tanks are the same process but if we can see the overall score first it'll help to point out any key unique details if any/planning safety

 

[Alexreefer]

Sure, First pic is after a water change then after 2 hours I get this.

Will post how the sand looks while cleaning it in the bucket. Maybe around Wednesday.

 

[brandon429]

Agreed that's perfect it'll work great

The fish won't die or have to endure any cycling ammonia if the clouding/detritus waste is kept separate from him during work and storage

We show that the ironic unsafe action is under rinsing out of concern for bacteria... which may leave detritus in the system somehow and then it's kicked up upon re set up. If we rinse it thoroughly, vicious rinsing lol, and put back sand with ro final rinse + rocks that were swished clean of invader and cloud then the system never recycles because all detritus was kept separate and not put back in the fixed tank

You might have a couple days of light typical hand siphoning clean up if the strain is mean but i don't think it will be

 

[Alexreefer]

Question before I get this started. With what should I rinse the live rock. Just shake it in saltwater?

 

[brandon429]

yes agreed, nice clarification that's so critical.

Washing in freshwater would not kill the bacteria on the live rock, and any hitchhikers would be likely to survive but its very insulting to the microfauna/worms/pods and we're trying to preserve them

so we rinse/swish only in saltwater only for live rocks

the sand has nothing we care about for the purposes of this thread, so what we do to the sand wont matter.

 

[hotashes]

Question before I get this started. With what should I rinse the live rock. Just shake it in saltwater?

Whilst doing so, I tend to use a baster to baste the rocks of detritus deep within and create porosity again

A.

 

[Alexreefer]

Well just finished the water change and sand/rocks cleaning. Wow!!! The tank is so clear and I decided to put only half my sand back. This is the Sand 40 minutes into cleaning. So much muck!! Will post updates later today and tank is as clear as could be. Running socks skimmer and uv at full force just in case.

 

[brandon429]

Any chance we could get a nitrate reading on that waste water it would be neat to chart thanks for posting such great work.

 

[Alexreefer]

Just tested the water for ammonia and it tests zero. Sadly lost my Diamondback goby Proboly from the stress of me taking his only home I will try and get some nitrate readings for the dirty water.

 

[brandon429]

To chart out fish loss where was he held


Clouding kills, brings ammonia quickly at times, was he held with live rock in a bucket? Asking because the trip from pet store to tank was ok/ tank back to tank is less stress than the initial entry

Other fish passed through same time frame of system work/ still kicking


Was he held alone in a bucket during the work or with rocks and or sand


Your ammonia and non cloudy water indicates a really thorough rinsing. Well done

 

[Hemmdog]

Just tested the water for ammonia and it tests zero. Sadly lost my Diamondback goby Proboly from the stress of me taking his only home I will try and get some nitrate readings for the dirty water.

Poor goby sorry for your loss.

 

[Alexreefer]

He was in a bucket by himself. Guess he was just really stressed out.

 

[Alexreefer]

Any chance we could get a nitrate reading on that waste water it would be neat to chart thanks for posting such great work.

Upon testing the wastewater the Nitrates were at a good 10 ppm and are now at 7ppm.

 

[Alexreefer]

Thanks for all the support. Finally, think I got this beat (knock on wood!!) Sad to see a fish go
Will post a fts tmr after school. Also in advance sorry for the bad looking corals as they are a little mad from today.

 

[brandon429]

Agreed in all the cycles I’ve done, and our works here, we hadn’t seen a single example goby die from being netted out of a tank and put into a holding bag of tank water or matching temp/salinity water, especially when it’s partner fish survives the same run.

They get from pet store to home with a tougher transit, usually some form of detritus association causes fish loss, like when they’re held with live rocks removed from the tank and stirred up with waste, before live rock rinsing portion

Can’t really pinpoint a cause when it’s once per nineteen years/ his time possibly. The greater system is vastly more important as we see examples here of ten thousand dollar systems dealing with full on cyano/detritus-caused invasion after years of coral growth...very hard to access, very costly. You have a system that gets to start clean now, and next cleaning run won’t be so mud-laden as this is a cycle not a one off


All sandbeds need cleaning if they’re not designed to self clean. Animals won’t do it unless it’s a thin bed with active gobies who really do turn...nearly every example here posted is a DSB in need of attention. The subsequent cleanings become routine for the system and the keeper, it’s a great practice.

The nitrate reading will likely climb as the wastewater sits due to oxygenation of bacteria still working on proteins up until they’re fully degraded it’ll be neat to see a measure compared to the new tanks water nitrate reading, really good job documenting and pics

Can’t wait to see pics, post afternoon shots when they have time to open up a bit w be neat to see



Running sand on the bottom of an aquarium too thick to be fully overturned by fast moving animals is causing the need for our thread. There has to come a point in forum advice where proponents of the method realize they’re recommending actions that store inside the system that gray mud shown above, for years usually, and at one point a reckoning arrives

*they can and do run for years in the common mode/hands off/sand on bottom but right when the tank is packed with $ is when sandbeds like to misbehave, we're thinking of the future for sure in our actions.

 

[Alexreefer]

So i took some pics and the corals are stil not happy but here they are

I started over with my corals as I lost them all so now all I have is a hammer and a torch. Hoping to have a euphilia garden

 

[brandon429]

in prior posts we slowly ramped back up the lighting vs full production mode in the new tank it would help to reduce intensity a bit. Looks clean

 

[Alexreefer]

Yes I noticed that and just lowed the intensity and turned on acclamation mode on. Acclamation mode will be done in a month and a half from today

 

[Alexreefer]

after a week, the algae has come back :mad: I plan to get a silicate test kit to see if it is diatoms or dinos that don't produce bubbles. Any info on what to do?

Thanks, Alex

 

[brandon429]

a one off cleaning run didn't have to be the total fix, it's being cloudless that allows you to easily remove the top layer if it's there, don't allow it to remass- we guide it out with gardening work. What this thread does is make your tank cloudless so that when natural Invaders get in you can simply remove them when they're the size of a quarter we don't let them mass any larger


Simply insert a siphon, remove a couple gallons of water as you remove the light topical growths which aren't as numerous now that the base system is cleaned

Hey on our thread it's been a few pages since someone demonstrated a passing drop test

Can you make a cellphone video of you reaching into the corner of the tank pick up some sand and drop it and let's see if a cloud happens. I think page 12 was the last video demonstration of a successful drop test cleaning with no clouding afterwards

even if it does happen it won't be that bad since you just cleaned it


And if it does cloud then we know a little something about the substrate/fuel for invaders

Also post a close-up update pic so we can see how the invader looks compared to original pic. Your new rocks may need curing/going on currently in the display tank, so diatoms or associates from any details associated with white rock aren't a surprise.

We also covered a few things you can do after a rip clean such as reducing the whites compared to the prior lighting levels- whereas blue is suppressive of invasions much better. That's another easy tuners trick to help growback as well

Without knowing details about source water total dissolved solids and little things like that it's better just to rely on a new method of simply removing the light topical growths as needed for your new tank and see how it fares when the invasion is consistently removed vs allowed to mass. I would be more shocked at the grow back if you post a clear drop test and you've been hand removing it for 2 weeks.

Some light grow back after the very first cleaning, without any hand guiding after is pretty typical if your invader is really well suited to your tank. Either way you probably have the least invasion of any post here so your tank is going to be just fine with a little work

The fact it took a week to come back without any work whatsoever after the original cleaning is a good sign, it means it could have been hand guided out easily as tiny patches. Your tank has literally no grazers so it's pretty amazing we can get any suppression just through the natural environment at all... you are the grazer now + siphon hose