what have others done...

iidylii

iidylii

Active Member
hi everyone...

im thinking about rescaping my entire tank in the near future...I want to drill my rocks and put pegs in them and come up with a lot more elaborate and open water plan with better waterflow and what not...the way it sits now they are more or less just piled up and could be a little nicer...anyways I also want to take all my sand out of my tank so I can do my scape on the tank bottom and not the sand bottom...I realize when I do this I will be kicking up all kinds of bad stuff from moving the sand around...I will be putting my fish and inverts in QT while I rescape and let the sand settle and levels come back to normal...

just kind of wondering how long I might need to wait before adding the fish back in the tank? I suppose I could just keep an eye on my parameters and when they say its all good then add the fish to the tank? Anyone else go through this fun process before and care to share?

thanks again...
 
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beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
You'll need to wait until the tank is completely cycled. I have actually broken down a tank completely, throwing out sand upon the advise of Bang Guy, and started anew with new sand (combo live and dry). Of course, re-using my LR. Tested and so forth for several days to make sure there were no water issues, and then loaded all my coral and fish back in. This was a DSB on both setups. Never got any bad cycle readings from the 2x I've set up a DSB.
 
iidylii

iidylii

Active Member
I was hoping to re use my current sand...if I were to leave my fish in QT for 4-6 weeks wouldn't my original sand be re cycled again and safe to add fish?
 
iidylii

iidylii

Active Member
lol I was probably not very clear sorry haha

I am only taking the sand out of the tank for as long as it takes to put my rocks into the tank, like I said I just want to place the rocks on the bottom of the glass which is why I need the sand moved out... then put the sand back in around the rocks and then build up with pegs from there...so maybe 20-30 mins...in the meantime my sand will be in a big tub full of tank water...hopefull that was more clear and not more confusing :eek:
 
lmforbis

lmforbis

Well-Known Member
I'd wash it thoroughly, multiple times, in salt water to preserve the bacteria but remove the crap.
When I upgraded to my 125 I used the old sand from my 55, which was only about 6 months old. It didn't cause big issues as far as ammonia goes but it caused me to fight cyano for months after ward.
I did use prime daily for a couple weeks just to play it safe but all fish went into the new tank later the same day.
Good luck with the rescaping. My rocks are pretty much a carefully built pile but there are lots of caves, that's where the careful part came in. I don't have the creative eye to do something fancy.
 
iidylii

iidylii

Active Member
thanks forbis...I guess I will put it in a nice size Rubbermaid bin in tank water and agitate it thoroughly then just dump the gross water before it settles and then add the sand back into the tank...

should be good times trying to find all the nassarious snails in the sand :confused:

theres gotta be some creativity in you im sure lol...just look at some pics of scapes online and use some of there ideas ;)

thanks for the help so far you guys I appreciate it :D
 
jay0705

jay0705

Well-Known Member
Check out caribsea life rock in branch. I like it bc the shape allows me to do different things.
 
jay0705

jay0705

Well-Known Member
Check out caribsea life rock in branch. I like it bc the shape allows me to do different things.
 
iidylii

iidylii

Active Member
Yeah that stuff is pretty awesome my dad has a lot of branch rock...

Man if money were no option how much more awesome would this hobby be lol :mad::D
 
iidylii

iidylii

Active Member
Unfortunately when I first started I just bought a Rubbermaid bin full of 100lbs of used live rock without knowing what I might like or not...

What I might do is use all of this in my sump and get some new dry rock to my liking and use that in the DT
 
jay0705

jay0705

Well-Known Member
Honestly over time the look of your tank will change greatly. I have rock , I haven't seen in yrs due to my sand sifting goby lol
 
iidylii

iidylii

Active Member
speaking of sifters...I was hoping to pick up a tiger watchman goby last friday from ***** but apparently there version of a tiger is much different then mine...they had 2 of them still in the baggies from the vendor and both said tigers on the bag but they were pink spotted gobies :mad:
 
jay0705

jay0705

Well-Known Member
Fish can go by many names. Gobys are one of the worst. Blennys too, scooter blennys really aren't blennys at all.
 
iidylii

iidylii

Active Member
Is it also a good idea to use egg crate on top of the bare bottom of the tank for the rocks to sit on? Is this only to prevent scratching or are there other reasons...I can't see it helping with water flow under rocks seeing as how the sand will be filling in around the edges?
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
jay0705 said:
Fish can go by many names. Gobys are one of the worst. Blennys too, scooter blennys really aren't blennys at all.
Click to expand...
Yes, need to be careful on common names.

There are at least two dozen "Cleaner Shrimp". There are at least 5 species of "Peppermint Shrimp". Knowing the exact species of what you have is invaluable.
 
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