Tank Swap

[jaxteller007]

I think it's a good choice.

?

 

[jaxteller007]

Replace with 100% new sand during the swap, fully pre rinsed in tap water so it's cloudless like a snowglobe. Final rinse is saltwater... Then use in new reef. This is ideal. Use as much new water in the new tank as you can stand to use.

Merely exchanged old for new sand makes your move safe, dealing in old sand is where the risk lies for recycling + invasion outbreaks in the newer tank.

I hate this part lol. We just bought 30 pounds to get our sandbed up to par but we didn't know we would be getting the free tank at the time.

 

[brandon429]

hey that could be workable/not a waste

check out the big sand rinse thread that just got kicked up

its ok to re rinse your old sand too, the going thinking is that if its high % old sand, that was in contact with phosphates for a while (all sandbed waste has P it in/backbones of DNA structure n protein etc) and new sand had less contact w phosphates. both can easily be rerinsed, and not everyone agrees po4 is bad anyway, its just the little technical difference.

that big thread shows every form of sandbed work known and being applied in tanks that didn't die.

 

[jaxteller007]

hey that could be workable/not a waste

check out the big sand rinse thread that just got kicked up

its ok to re rinse your old sand too, the going thinking is that if its high % old sand, that was in contact with phosphates for a while (all sandbed waste has P it in/backbones of DNA structure n protein etc) and new sand had less contact w phosphates. both can easily be rerinsed, and not everyone agrees po4 is bad anyway, its just the little technical difference.

that big thread shows every form of sandbed work known and being applied in tanks that didn't die.

Can you link the thread?

 

[brandon429]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-official-sand-rinse-thread-aka-one-against-many.230281/page-13

 

[mch1984]

?

Good choice going with the herbie

 

[jaxteller007]

hey that could be workable/not a waste

check out the big sand rinse thread that just got kicked up

its ok to re rinse your old sand too, the going thinking is that if its high % old sand, that was in contact with phosphates for a while (all sandbed waste has P it in/backbones of DNA structure n protein etc) and new sand had less contact w phosphates. both can easily be rerinsed, and not everyone agrees po4 is bad anyway, its just the little technical difference.

that big thread shows every form of sandbed work known and being applied in tanks that didn't die.

That thread is like a foreign language to me in parts lol. The gist I'm getting is dry sand, pre rinse with tap water, final rinse with salt water. Then add to tank. Due to budget contraints we probably do not have the option to just toss out all roughly 70 pounds of sand in the current tank (30 pounds was added a month ago). We will have to use some of the existing to have a decent sand bed. So would I just mix it all together and do the tap water rinse followed by saltwater? Or only rinse the dry sand with tap water?

Also I saw some people talking in that thread about not transferring live rock either. That's not an option for us either, we absolutely will have to transfer over our rock.

It's not like we are transferring everything because of some kind of disease or infection. Just moving from a non drilled tank, to a drilled tank.

 

[mch1984]

I don’t disagree with replacing sand, but I also think you’ll be just fine doing some rinsing and reusing. As far as the live rock, you absolutely want to transfer that. It’s very benificial to the new set up.

 

[jaxteller007]

I don’t disagree with replacing sand, but I also think you’ll be just fine doing some rinsing and reusing. As far as the live rock, you absolutely want to transfer that. It’s very benificial to the new set up.

Yea I'm thinking rinse and reuse the existing sand, and add in some rinsed new dry sand to get a little deeper and more consistent sand bed. Would I rinse the existing sand with tap water before salt or would that be bad for it?

 

[mch1984]

Yea I'm thinking rinse and reuse the existing sand, and add in some rinsed new dry sand to get a little deeper and more consistent sand bed. Would I rinse the existing sand with tap water before salt or would that be bad for it?

I think with the live rock tap water will be fine. You going to kill any benificial bacteria in it but the rock should provide plenty.

 

[jaxteller007]

I think with the live rock tap water will be fine. You going to kill any benificial bacteria in it but the rock should provide plenty.

Opinions on flex tubing for drains? 75 gallon tank if that matters.

#reefsquad

 

[Crabs McJones]

Opinions on flex tubing for drains? 75 gallon tank if that matters.

#reefsquad

I'm more of a hard pvc plumbing kind of guy. Flex tubing has the potential to rip or crack over time.

 

[jaxteller007]

I think with the live rock tap water will be fine. You going to kill any benificial bacteria in it but the rock should provide plenty.

Opinions on flex tubing for drains? 75 gallon tank if that matters.

#reefsquad

I'm more of a hard pvc plumbing kind of guy. Flex tubing has the potential to rip or crack over time.

Maybe I can use flex for now to get the swap done and then switch to hard or flex PVC later? The HOB overflow is starting to give more and more problems.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

I use spa flex on all of my tanks and have for years with no issues. https://www.aquariumspecialty.com/black-spa-flex-flexible-pvc-pipe-price-per-foot.html

Not a fan of these if this flex tube is what you are referring to--
https://www.aquariumspecialty.com/eshopps-flex-hose.html

 

[Crabs McJones]

Opinions on flex tubing for drains? 75 gallon tank if that matters.

#reefsquad


Maybe I can use flex for now to get the swap done and then switch to hard or flex PVC later? The HOB overflow is starting to give more and more problems.

Hard plumbing is just my personal preference, that's not to say the flex tubing doesnt work just fine. Aesthetically speaking in think PVC plumbing, especially with the colored unprinted pipe you can get, looks alot better

 

[jaxteller007]

I use spa flex on all of my tanks and have for years with no issues. https://www.aquariumspecialty.com/black-spa-flex-flexible-pvc-pipe-price-per-foot.html

Not a fan of these if this flex tube is what you are referring to--
https://www.aquariumspecialty.com/eshopps-flex-hose.html

Crap I just bout a section of what you dont like lol. In my defense, the store had it running on their display tanks.

At lowes now so maybe I should get some of that spa tubing?

 

[jaxteller007]

Hard plumbing is just my personal preference, that's not to say the flex tubing doesnt work just fine. Aesthetically speaking in think PVC plumbing, especially with the colored unprinted pipe you can get, looks alot better

Eventually we want to do the colored PVC with options for reactors, etx. I'm just trying to get it up and running for now before the HOB overflow fails

 

[Crabs McJones]

Eventually we want to do the colored PVC with options for reactors, etx. I'm just trying to get it up and running for now before the HOB overflow fails

You can use the flex stuff for temporary operation. It's what I did when I first started out

 

[jaxteller007]

You can use the flex stuff for temporary operation. It's what I did when I first started out

Now I'm wondering if I should use what I have or get that spa line stuff lol

 

[jaxteller007]

I guess the other question is this.

My bulkhead holes and fittings are 1" is that wide enough or should I use 1.5 for the drains and bring it down to 1 at the fitting?