20L to 29gal. cycle again?
- Thread starter dbelli
- Start date
gsd
Member
No cycle wil be initiated or at least a cycle that would do any harm if you simply transfer stuff from the 20 to the 29. Now if you let the lr set out for a hour etc yes, it will cause dieoff, but merely moving it over is fine and should not present any problems.
The thing I would be concerned with is the CC as its liable to stir up some crap in the process, so perhaps rinseing it may be a good idea........as would using some of the 20 gal tanks water. To me, it would be a perfect time to convert from CC to sand. Thats just my opinion though on the elimination of CC. Even play sand IMHO is better than CC is.
The thing I would be concerned with is the CC as its liable to stir up some crap in the process, so perhaps rinseing it may be a good idea........as would using some of the 20 gal tanks water. To me, it would be a perfect time to convert from CC to sand. Thats just my opinion though on the elimination of CC. Even play sand IMHO is better than CC is.
dbelli
Member
GSD, that is what I was thinking, but in my area in NH, live sand is not available. I hate to lose all of my live stuff that I have built up in the cc. Can I buy some sand and mix the two? I think that a deeper bed would be better at controlling my trates. As for the live rock, I planned on using a rubbermaid while switching and saving my water . Yeah, I kinda wondered about stirring up stuff while transferring the cc.
:thinking:
gsd
Member
Your sand bed would becomer populated with stuff off the live rock. A deeper sand bed may be better than a cc bed, but deep beds are not a cureall as they can and will harbor junk like hydrogen sulphides. Unless you have the critters that are capable of keeping a deeper sand bed stirred up I would not go with a deep bed. I fyou mix CC and sand, the CC will in short order all migrate to the top, and it will not stay mixed. Just place some small pieces of LR rubble inthe sand and see how long it takes to come to the surface of the bed........just a few days.
I would get some sand, wash it well, rinse it in saltwater (used is fine) If there is nothing in it thats organic, then the addition of new sand wil not initiate a cycle that would amount to anything. I konw of two individuals that had CC and changed to regular old play sand and what they did was use nylon mesh laundry bags to place CC in. They made a sand bed of playsand and then placed laundry bag of CC in tank for a few days. This allowed time for critters etc to migrate to sand bed. They swore it worked, I can't say it did or did not. You can rinse your CC as its removed with salt water, but your still gonna loose some stuff, but overall you will stil lbe eliminating the junk that normally builds up in a CC bed and not introduce it to the tank, and it is still going to be reseeded once rock is placed back in the tank. I think I would rather start off with a new dead sand bed than reinstall a CC substrate bed..Thats just me though as I am partial to a "shallow" sandbed of 1 to 1.5" as I do not keep anyhting that requires a deep bed so I eliminate the potential for any problems normally associated with deep beds. I got rid of my last deep sand bed probably 5 years or so ago and have not noticed a thing different in any of the tanks.
I would get some sand, wash it well, rinse it in saltwater (used is fine) If there is nothing in it thats organic, then the addition of new sand wil not initiate a cycle that would amount to anything. I konw of two individuals that had CC and changed to regular old play sand and what they did was use nylon mesh laundry bags to place CC in. They made a sand bed of playsand and then placed laundry bag of CC in tank for a few days. This allowed time for critters etc to migrate to sand bed. They swore it worked, I can't say it did or did not. You can rinse your CC as its removed with salt water, but your still gonna loose some stuff, but overall you will stil lbe eliminating the junk that normally builds up in a CC bed and not introduce it to the tank, and it is still going to be reseeded once rock is placed back in the tank. I think I would rather start off with a new dead sand bed than reinstall a CC substrate bed..Thats just me though as I am partial to a "shallow" sandbed of 1 to 1.5" as I do not keep anyhting that requires a deep bed so I eliminate the potential for any problems normally associated with deep beds. I got rid of my last deep sand bed probably 5 years or so ago and have not noticed a thing different in any of the tanks.