Thinking about throwing in the towel

[hawk82]

So if I understand it from that ripclean, I wash the sand in tap water?

 

[DeniseAndy]

If I wash the sand, I do it in tap water and let dry before adding it back in. You will need to scour it for snails if you wish to save them. I try to save as much as I can, but most of the bugs, worms, and starfish, etc live in my rocks. These replenish any of that I lose.

 

[fishguy242]

ok salinity,add some fully cured live rock ,smell it before you get if it smell like sewage not cured,you have room to just add some the live rock and skimmer will cycle that tank for you ,have great skimmer ,do you have tds tester,did you start tank with all rodi water,how many gallons ,what type of lights,sorry for all the questions but this will help us help you,my opinion only stop adding any quick fix chems at this point ,1 more what brand and watt uv

 

[Reeferdude1888]

Hi I started out with African cichlids many years ago they are the closest to marines for colour and a very hardy fish .Then I made the move over to marines through my time one of the most important things was to have patience and not to rush things ,it takes time to create a stable Eco system for a marine tank yes this is frustrating at times but in the long run you will appreciate your aquarium more and get more enjoyment from it ,I remember just watching the rock and as time progressed there was some strange things beginning to grow on it and appear from it .
So hang in there start to read about the chemistry of the reef tank from reading the posts on hear and also about th
e correct parameters I.e phosphate nitrate then begin to manage these levels in your aquarium and as the tank matures so will your knowledge and before you no it you will be hooked then you can progress to fish corals all the things that you would like to have right now so hang in there and before you no it you will be posting picture of your prized fish or coral but use the information on here it's free and will put you on your way to an established reef it takes time hopefully you stick with it.

 

[fishguy242]

So if I understand it from that ripclean, I wash the sand in tap water?

no

 

[brandon429]

yes, the thread of the five thousand dollar reef tank shows that. rinse, in tap. here is one hundred more reefs doing the same thing, take an hour to read and you'll never see the uglies in another reef you own again.

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

that is only one step, the other portions were how he disassembled and separated the fish, didnt introduce clouding to fish during the takedown....he rinsed in tap water only so he would not run out of water, he rinsed until it was 100% cloud free. 10% cloud free is bad and can kill your tank, but 100% cloud free is harmless.

then his final sand rinse was in ro di or saltwater, to evacuate the tap. the tap is only for a brief interval thats why it is ideal and harmless. his rocks were never rinsed in tap, they're rinsed in a bucket of clean new saltwater.

once the clouding/invasion organisms have been washed away, reassemble the tank with all new water, it will not recycle. The sole thing you could do wrong is under rinse out of fear of harming bacteria, that's dangerous. They're not harmed, what you are rinsing out is waste detritus. rinse it in tap until the sand is perfectly cloudless and you can drop it in water and it wont disturb, or cloud.

 

[fishguy242]

leave sand alone at this point imo ,details

 

[brandon429]

you will never get two people to agree on if we should permit our tanks to self wreck.

I wont try and convince you to not do that. if you want to see it being done, links are there. we have cured 200 reefs of what you have by simply washing out the sand in a manner not any reefer would ever recommend lol.

 

[hawk82]

ok salinity,add some fully cured live rock ,smell it before you get if it smell like sewage not cured,you have room to just add some the live rock and skimmer will cycle that tank for you ,have great skimmer ,do you have tds tester,did you start tank with all rodi water,how many gallons ,what type of lights,sorry for all the questions but this will help us help you,my opinion only stop adding any quick fix chems at this point ,1 more what brand and watt uv

TDS is 0, I used all rodi when i started. 40 gallon breeder tank, lights are reef breeder photon led, uv is a green killing machine 24w.

 

[Glott3133]

You’re still in the uglies. A saltwater cycle doesn’t stop with nitrate showing up. You go through dinos, diatoms, and then hair algae and it takes nearly a year. Stick it out and wait while managing your nutrients. A filter sock will help with clear the water column.

The uglies is exactly what you're experiencing. I only managed to understand it, by reading an entire post on what my tank was going through from the people here. My tank is a little over 4 months old, and I am just starting to see my white sand again. Stick with it.

 

[fishguy242]

not here to ruffle feathers or disagree with all,stop reading the book ,answer the list of questions i posted ,will help you get the correct answers from the community ,i am sorry to all not to offend ,this is not that hard leave the sand alone,you will just be starting over not the route to take imo

 

[brandon429]

as you can tell Hawk, the public really wants you to keep that tank as is, though you've posted you dont want to

hard to break free yep. there is literally one hundred reefs being fixed running up to as recent as last month in the work threads, those prevent us from having to guess how your tank will turn out. its a roadmap of how it will turn out, awesomely, but only if you want it to be that way.

its a book because nobody takes time to follow up on their recommends like we do (we track the tank to finality) its much easier just to post things and have no patterning to show for it.

we did half a million dollars of reef work for five years, a decent source of procedural information in the least.

to leave your tank in the state you said you do not want it to be in, is also ok and much more acceptable to the greater society.

if you run a rip clean, your tank looks great, simple as that.

 

[fishguy242]

excellent salinity? how many hours running lights,ramping? how far off top of water?

 

[hawk82]

excellent salinity? how many hours running lights,ramping? how far off top of water?

1.026, lights from 7am to 8pm ramping up and down. The high they get is only 40% blues 10% whites, about 8 inches up.

 

[Paul B]

All the stuff I vacuumed out last night, is right back today

So what! I shaved yesterday and today it is all back the same way it was yesterday. I am not going to cut my head off for it.

WOW. Your tank is almost 50 years old?

Yes, 13 more months it will be fifty.

 

[fishguy242]

perfect rt now i suggest cutting light cycle back to 9-10 hrs ,but 13 is perfect once established w corals near future,adding some 10-12 lbs l rock 10 gallon water change for kicks,without even knowing ammonia level,want to know ,that will get going to where you want to be ,any questions just ask ,best wishes happy reefing

 

[fishguy242]

So what! I shaved yesterday and today it is all back the same way it was yesterday. I am not going to cut my head off for it.




Yes, 13 more months it will be fifty.

hi would love to see pics ,incredible,been reefing 30yrs this year oldest tank running is 13 have a couple corals that are over 25 love to swap some pics

 

[xaflatoonx]

No one can give you better advice than this.

It's not for everyone, honestly. If your this frustrated about what you mentioned it may very well not be a hobby for you.

That said, the diatoms you mentioned are a part of normal business with new saltwater tanks. Every single one. You may try lowering your lights to 6 hours or less and that should help with any pest algae/diatom/dino whatever problem you might have.

This hobby is full of pests and nuisances so if your not up to the work and research/learning aspect, then save yourself some coin. Fish come with ich, velvet, uronema marinum, flukes, etc etc on and on. Even more pests for corals, zoa spiders, aptasia, zoa nudibranchs, red bugs, black bugs, acro eating flatworms, red planaria, polyclad worms that eat snails and clams, bristle worms that give you a rash.... And those are only the more common ones!!!

 

[hawk82]

performing rip clean now. got all my rocks and 1 fish moved over to 20 long, almost all sand out of tank, it looks like milk. how long should i wash it? tired of sitting around doing nothing, at least this way i can do something, and if i have to start over at this point its ok, i dont have any corals and just the 1 fish.

 

[hawk82]