Substrate change

[Brandon787878]

Okay so I haven't had much success lately with coral growth. It's been a good 7 months since I've had coral actually grow. I think I am having issues because of my substrate . It is crushed coral and over the time I feel like there's no real good clean up crew to take care of it. Is it hard to do a switch to sand? Can it be done right away?


My live stock is what I dont know what to do with when doing this change.

I have 2 clowns. A yellow tang. Coral beauty and a pink fish that I do not remember the name of. Is it possible to do it all right away?

 

[brandon429]

yes its totally easy to do and you don't have to buy anything but new sand. no bottle bac, no Prime, just do a rip cleaning. its this:

drain water out and be catching fish nicely as poss hold in bucket elsewhere

leaving only rocks n coral n water n sand, take out rocks and be rinsing them in the tank water somewhere so the detritus doesn't move to the new tank after setup. *moving cloud, detritus, is the sole risk and no other step is a risk.

rocks are rinsed in saltwater only, corals too if needed, to remove all detritus. swish em around a bit, then hold for rework. no recycle if there is no clouding put back into the new tank.


throw out the sand

whatever new sand you've bought, rinse it with tap water till it runs clear, then salt, then use it all. skip cycle setup. yes tap is the pre rinse, until clear, no it doesn't harm or matter to your sand bac. the rock bacteria are what we preserved, here's 23 pages of the work without fail. If you choose the skip cycle switch out, we will link your work to page 24. tap water never touches your live rock, only the new sand where the bacteria does not matter anyway, the thread below is an in-depth study of microbiology and commanding what tanks do regarding filtration schemes.

The sole risk is you moving over or disturbing filthy waste, which your current bed has and its not good for the system. pre rinse your new sand, we open the thread with examples of non pre rinsing.

The reason what you do with your new sand doesn't matter to filtration stability is the same reason we get away with removing full sandbeds in that thread and not even putting one back. The bac on the live rock is always, always, always enough unless you're using hardly any. Your live rock even if stand alone, instant no sand, can handle double the fish bioloading....that's how much surface area reserve you have independent of sand SA>

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...

www.reef2reef.com

The thread is specifically a study on substrate changing. You even have the option of catching and reusing your drained off water above, not having to make new.

in our thread, we start the new tank like a new reef....100% water change. The reason why: gets the most lifespan possible from your reef. conveying any old organics, while popular, isn't ideal since you didn't get to start with totally empty and clean spaces that take in new feed and waste, for new coral mass building.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Crushed coral is a known nutrient sink.

Changing it should be done in small sections. Live stock can stay in the tank. Remove a small area with a scoop or cup. Water will get cloudy. Run GAC and if possible a filter sock. Once cleared. Rinse your new sand in a large fish net till the water comes out clear. Take a 1" or 1 1/2" pvc pipe long enough to reach the bottom of the tank. Pour the sand in the pipe.

Wait several days and do all of this again. May take week or weeks to do. Small sections at a time allows the system to settle biologically.

 

[Brandon787878]

yes its totally easy to do and you don't have to buy anything but new sand. no bottle bac, no Prime, just do a rip cleaning. its this:

drain water out and be catching fish nicely as poss hold in bucket elsewhere

leaving only rocks n coral n water n sand, take out rocks and be rinsing them in the tank water somewhere so the detritus doesn't move to the new tank after setup. *moving cloud, detritus, is the sole risk and no other step is a risk.

rocks are rinsed in saltwater only, corals too if needed, to remove all detritus. swish em around a bit, then hold for rework. no recycle if there is no clouding put back into the new tank.


throw out the sand

whatever new sand you've bought, rinse it with tap water till it runs clear, then salt, then use it all. skip cycle setup. yes tap is the pre rinse, until clear, no it doesn't harm or matter to your sand bac. the rock bacteria are what we preserved, here's 23 pages of the work without fail. If you choose the skip cycle switch out, we will link your work to page 24. tap water never touches your live rock, only the new sand where the bacteria does not matter anyway, the thread below is an in-depth study of microbiology and commanding what tanks do regarding filtration schemes.

The sole risk is you moving over or disturbing filthy waste, which your current bed has and its not good for the system. pre rinse your new sand, we open the thread with examples of non pre rinsing.

The reason what you do with your new sand doesn't matter to filtration stability is the same reason we get away with removing full sandbeds in that thread and not even putting one back. The bac on the live rock is always, always, always enough unless you're using hardly any. Your live rock even if stand alone, instant no sand, can handle double the fish bioloading....that's how much surface area reserve you have independent of sand SA>

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...

www.reef2reef.com

The thread is specifically a study on substrate changing. You even have the option of catching and reusing your drained off water above, not having to make new.

in our thread, we start the new tank like a new reef....100% water change. The reason why: gets the most lifespan possible from your reef. conveying any old organics, while popular, isn't ideal since you didn't get to start with totally empty and clean spaces that take in new feed and waste, for new coral mass building.

If I was to do this do I need to make new water or can I drain it and reuse some? Just thinking because the price of salt and sand for both aren't in the budget right now. Also if I were to scrub the rocks clean wouldn't I be hurting my bacteria that I need for when I put my stuff back in the tank right away?

 

[brandon429]

Rocks had no scrubbing above, they were merely swished about in some clean saltwater, so no bac harm there. Can reuse the drain water yes, some will need to be redone as makeup water but mostly it can be the drained tank. Be sure and check the work there for details, we tend to use all new water but if you can't, then just don't put back any clouding and per the thread it'll skip cycle to the new substrate.

Your tank really is a great candidate due to easy layout and size it's easy swapper, low bioload and good rocks. We're caring for their bac, only swishing in a clean bucket of sw to get off the dusting/ light detritus this helps evacuate rocks, open pores, then it all builds up again slowly

 

[Brandon787878]

Rocks had no scrubbing above, they were merely swished about in some clean saltwater, so no bac harm there. Can reuse the drain water yes, some will need to be redone as makeup water but mostly it can be the drained tank. Be sure and check the work there for details, we tend to use all new water but if you can't, then just don't put back any clouding and per the thread it'll skip cycle to the new substrate.

Your tank really is a great candidate due to easy layout and size it's easy swapper, low bioload and good rocks. We're caring for their bac, only swishing in a clean bucket of sw to get off the dusting/ light detritus this helps evacuate rocks, open pores, then it all builds up again slowly

Okay awesome. So my next question is what sand to use? I wanted a white sand look

 

[brandon429]

I’ve always used Caribsea stuff, Fiji pink or ocean direct. Ocean direct is very nice and white, it takes a while of rinsing before it runs clean. Here’s me tap rinsing my sandbed back to white...the corals are all laid out on the counter along with the rocks.

After tap rinse and drain over and over, last rinse is saltwater. Corals go back on top of sand just like the day it was set up, that’s why rinsing sand is not harmful. It’s continually resetting the age of your tank to zero each time it’s done...it’s a lifespan increase trick to maintain clean sand at least occasionally. In your case it’s to be able to swap sand, and even when that’s done, an annual rinsing is ideal vs non rinsed setups which constitute all the invaded tanks we worked. Rinsing waste out is preventative maintenance

Why are you up at five am reefing ha nice

 

[Brandon787878]

I’ve always used Caribsea stuff, Fiji pink or ocean direct. Ocean direct is very nice and white, it takes a while of rinsing before it runs clean. Here’s me tap rinsing my sandbed back to white...the corals are all laid out on the counter along with the rocks.

After tap rinse and drain over and over, last rinse is saltwater. Corals go back on top of sand just like the day it was set up, that’s why rinsing sand is not harmful. It’s continually resetting the age of your tank to zero each time it’s done...it’s a lifespan increase trick to maintain clean sand at least occasionally. In your case it’s to be able to swap sand, and even when that’s done, an annual rinsing is ideal vs non rinsed setups which constitute all the invaded tanks we worked. Rinsing waste out is preventative maintenance

Why are you up at five am reefing ha nice

Awesome thank you. I am going to approach this coming Saturday or monday holiday and hopefully everything goes smooth

 

[brandon429]

ok we want to document your changeout for the thread as well, we pile up work examples to form patterns/make predictions on new work over and over like a cycle

in all 23 pages I recall one gentleman losing his goby fish, no tank losses, no coral losses, so the ratio of safety seems highest possible in my opinion. we open the thread with examples of not hesitating/under rinsing out of fear of destabilization, so if you set back up a clean tank, good to go for sure

 

[Brandon787878]

ok we want to document your changeout for the thread as well, we pile up work examples to form patterns/make predictions on new work over and over like a cycle

in all 23 pages I recall one gentleman losing his goby fish, no tank losses, no coral losses, so the ratio of safety seems highest possible in my opinion. we open the thread with examples of not hesitating/under rinsing out of fear of destabilization, so if you set back up a clean tank, good to go for sure

Perfect

 

[Brandon787878]

ok we want to document your changeout for the thread as well, we pile up work examples to form patterns/make predictions on new work over and over like a cycle

in all 23 pages I recall one gentleman losing his goby fish, no tank losses, no coral losses, so the ratio of safety seems highest possible in my opinion. we open the thread with examples of not hesitating/under rinsing out of fear of destabilization, so if you set back up a clean tank, good to go for sure

Hey Brandon so everything is done my water is cloudy even tho I rinsed the sand. Not sure why. I have the power heads and filter running with my skimmer right now. Hopefully should clear up tonight and I can put corals back in the tank . I found a ton of fire bristle worms and removed them. Hoping to get a very good crew this week so the tank stays clean and they dont populate anymore. Any tips to what I should do would be appreciated.

Ps I put the fish back into the tank.

 

[Brandon787878]

The tank

 

[brandon429]

I would change it out for no sand setup to eliminate that variable, it can be added back later after confirming clarity.

So just redo the water change, but with no sand. Refill tank to establish clarity. Then we consider sand last


before installing sand we make a drop test video like the one I made proving its rinsed well. Those ordered steps should cover it.

 

[brandon429]

It takes almost an hour of tap rinsing to truly rinse sand correctly we show.


Take a handful of that sand on video and swish it in a clear glass container so we can check for silt

 

[Brandon787878]

It takes almost an hour of tap rinsing to truly rinse sand correctly we show.


Take a handful of that sand on video and swish it in a clear glass container so we can check for silt

Okay it won't be until tomorrow that I can do that because of me working. If it's clear though by tomorrow morning I most likely will leave it.

 

[Brandon787878]

It takes almost an hour of tap rinsing to truly rinse sand correctly we show.


Take a handful of that sand on video and swish it in a clear glass container so we can check for silt

So tank is looking really good. Didn't lose any fish so that's a plus. I did a little rock work so now down the road I will be getting more rock so I can build it up higher in the future. As for now I am happy with the tank.

 

[brandon429]

yes that's been commanded right back into shape/noted ha nice

 

[brandon429]

you know what dawned on me

we all pay a massive massive x10 headache bc someone wont pre rinse sand at the production zone. they do not have to be leaving this massive silting, it literally helps nothing.

clearly, pre rinse would add to cost.

who wants to make a million dollars

sell pre rinsed sand. If its sold wet then you can claim correctly it has filtration bacteria built in and charge more, just rinse it pahleeee

 

[Brandon787878]

you know what dawned on me

we all pay a massive massive x10 headache bc someone wont pre rinse sand at the production zone. they do not have to be leaving this massive silting, it literally helps nothing.

clearly, pre rinse would add to cost.

who wants to make a million dollars

sell pre rinsed sand. If its sold wet then you can claim correctly it has filtration bacteria built in and charge more, just rinse it pahleeee

Haha million dollar idea