150 gal cleaning

[mrme123]

Its me again thanks for all your help so far. I started switching my fish over from my 55gal to my 150 gal. Now that I have a sand bed I was told not to vacum it. I do have a predrilled tank with a sump. My next question is, since I do not vacum the sand do I still do water changes? Or do I just add to fill it up as it evaporates?

 

[apollobeachfl]

I am kinda new with the sand myself but from what I have read you can vacuum very lightly just above the sand to remove any debris that may be on top. Then if you want to make the sand white and pretty again you can just gently move your hand back and forth above the sand and it will move around a bit. You will still need to do top offs and water changes as needed. JMO...........

 

[girlina4x4]

You can still vaccum very lightly if there is any debris on top of the sand. But by no means stick the vaccum down into the sand. You still need to do weekly water changes of about 20%, and top of daily with freshwater.

 

[hlcroghan]

I wouldn't vacuum at all. Maybe just remove by hand or with a net?? You are going to kill some copepods on top of the sand if you do that. Do you have a clean up crew? They should clean up any left over debris. And your powerheads and skimmer should keep anything from settling on the bottom of the tank.

 

[mrme123]

Thanks, and i do not have much of a clean up crew yet. I only have 3 fish in it. And they just got in there. I really want the sand to stay the way it is, looks much better then CC. Someone told me I didn't have to do water changes with the sump i have, I thought that sounded a little wierd. Thanks for all the help

 

[mboswell1982]

get you a clean up crew of some snails and hermits and maybe a conch, and your sand should be justfine, especially if you add in a sand sifting goby or 2

 

[rcreations]

You still need to do water changes. I change 10% every week and my nitrates are always under 10. I never vacuum my sand but I have fish that clean it up constantly.

 

[ret talbot]

Regarding the sandbed, it does make a bit of a difference depending on if it is a deep sandbed or a shallow sandbed. Some marine aquarists use a deep sandbed as a form of filtration in the system, while others use a shallow sandbed for little more than aesthetics. With the former, you don't want to disturb it, with the latter, you can vacuum away (a refugium, sump or live rock will still provide habitat for the pods). Either way, employ some sand sifters in your clean-up crew (e.g. sand sifting starfish or arious gobies).
Good luck!

 

[mrme123]

thanks for all the advice!

I love my new tank, its alot bigger and the sand looks much nicer. With the hermot crabs, do i need to put empty shells in as well? In my 55 gal I lost alot of red leg hermits because the were waundering without a shell and eating each other. And I will definatly get a sand shifter

 

[mboswell1982]

yes, definitely put extra shells of different sizes in there, otherwise, they'll outgrow their shells and will basically die because of it. and with a tank that size, you could prolly do several, 2-4, sand sifters with no problem at all

 

[ret talbot]

Just go slow with the clean-up crew. One of the biggest causes of death of clean-up crew members in a new tank is starvation. If you add a packaged "150-Gallon Clean-Up Crew" to a new 150-gallon system, many of the CUC members will starve (unless you feed them, but that's kind of defeating the purpose of having a CUC in the first place...lol). Use observation as your guide and grow your clean-up crew as your bioload changes and your biological filtartion capacity improves.
Ret

www.SaltwaterSense.com

 

[mrme123]

Thats why I don't have a clean up crew yet. I just moved my fish over. There isn't anything for them to eat yet. And right now I have the 2 lights from the hood of my 55 gal over my 150. With Christmas here I don't have the money to buy another light yet. I have been piecing this tank together for the last 6 months. I am going to go reef this time. Will those lights be ok for a little bit with just fish?

 

[ret talbot]

Originally Posted by Mrme123
http:///forum/post/2873287
Thats why I don't have a clean up crew yet. I just moved my fish over. There isn't anything for them to eat yet. And right now I have the 2 lights from the hood of my 55 gal over my 150. With Christmas here I don't have the money to buy another light yet. I have been piecing this tank together for the last 6 months. I am going to go reef this time. Will those lights be ok for a little bit with just fish?
IMO, those lights (not sure exactly what they are) should be fine for the FOWLR system. Keep in mind too that underlighting the tank will retard algae growth (both bad and good). Keep us posted!
Ret

www.SaltwaterSense.com