38 gallon makeover

hughes07

hughes07

Member
ok. i spent all day working on my 38 gallon. wow, what a mess. hair algae everywhere. i moved around 30 lbs of lr to my mom's tank (55 g) and i also moved my maroon clown and my two yellow and purple damsels (don't know the exact names, sorry). i was left with a bottom of white rock. i was forced to get white gravel instead of some sand that i wanted. i hate that white rock. it doesn't make it look good at all IMO. sand would make it look alot better. so after alot of cleaning the 38 gallon looks brand new. no water. no rock. just an underground filter thing, hang-on filter, and a heater. im going to get some glass hoods and some arganite (spelling?) sand tomorrow (hopefully). i was wondering if when i put water in tomorrow, do i put the sand in first then the water, or do i put the water in first then the sand? ill hopefully post some pics later on as soon as my friend brings over his digi tomorrow.
 
jonny bolt

jonny bolt

Member
Lay your sand down first. Then place a plastic or glass bowl on it and pour your water into to help difffuse the heavy flow of water. Helps make for less of a mess.
 
hughes07

hughes07

Member
ok. thats what i did before with the rock but i didn't know if the sand needed to be placed in after the water was already in. thanks
 
meadbhb

meadbhb

Member
Hiya,
Get rid of the white rock and buy more argonite sand.
Also, did you say you have an under gravel filter in there? If so, take it out. Those are really for fresh water tanks.
Meadbhb
 
hughes07

hughes07

Member
ok. i already took out the white rock. i hate it. and i might buy some arganite sand today. im not sure if its an underground filter or not. its like this plastic tan thing with two like small towers on the back sides. i had my powerhead plugged on to it on my last tank. if thats an underground filter then should i remove it?
 
meadbhb

meadbhb

Member
Hiya,
Sounds like an undergravel filter to me. Are the tubes in the back clear and you put power heads on them to suck up the water and circulate it? If so, yeap, UGF, get rid of it.
I have argonite sand and love it.
Meadbhb
 
hughes07

hughes07

Member
haha yes that is exactly what it is. so tonight when i put the sand in, i just pour the sand in then the water, then lr.... no ugf
 
meadbhb

meadbhb

Member
Hiya,
Yeap, take that out, it will become a nitrate trap and will crash your tank when you least expect it. Put your substrate directly on the bottom of the tank. Have you decided if you're going to do a deep sand bed (DSB) or a shallow sand bed (SSB) yet? This will also effect the way your tank will function.
One other thing, turn your pumps and filters off when you put your sand in. The sand will clog up your equipment.
Meadbhb
 
meadbhb

meadbhb

Member
Hiya,
With a DSB, you'll want 4-6 inches of substrate, I think, my brain just short circuted! Also, for you to keep it from crashing, you'll need to make sure the sand stay's alive. This will entail occasionally adding new critters to the sand. Also, you'll not want to purchase anything that will eat the critters out of your sand bed.
There's a lot of good info on sand beds on this board. I'd suggest using the search function on this board and do some reading. I'm by far an expert on this topic.
Meadbhb
 
meadbhb

meadbhb

Member
Hiya,
Its the way it's maintained for the most part. However ::Grin:: now you're getting a little out of my league. There is a thread in the reef section about sand beds, you may want to read it. Gives some good info.
Otherwise, hopefully someone will jump in here and help out, or you can try a search.
Meadbhb
 
hughes07

hughes07

Member
ok i just put in the sand. i just got in like 20 minutes ago. it looks really good. arganite sand with a black background. now with the water. should i just put in some saltwater and or put in dechrolinated water and then put in the salt...
 
meadbhb

meadbhb

Member
Hiya,
Are you using tap water or RO/DI? I HIGHLY recommend RO/DI water. If you can't get that, then get bottled water. Tap water has a lot of additives in it that will cause you major problems down the road. Especially with hair algea. Even treating the water with chemicals will not take care of all this.
You should mix your water outside of the tank. It makes it much easier then trying to mix it in the tank.
Are you going to be putting your fish back in immediately? If so, you're going to want to age your salt water before you put it in. Mix it up in a bucket, add a heater so the temp won't be out of wack when you put it in and also add something to circulate and airate your water so the salt disolves better.
Meadbhb
 
hughes07

hughes07

Member
hey meadbhb, thanks for all the help first off. no im leaving the fish in my mom's tank for a little while. i was about to add the water last night, however, we have like no salt left. so i need to go get some salt tonight. we have an "ice mountain" drinking thing. should i get my water from there instead of the faucet. im just going to put the water in and leave the water and the sand in there for a couple days. then probably add a couple pieces of lr. do you think i should go ahead and get a rubbermaid container and start mixing a little of the salt that i have. i have nothing near enough to fill up the whole tank. or do you think i should just let it go for now.
 
meadbhb

meadbhb

Member
Hiya,
You might want to talk to your LFS about buying RO/DI water. Mine sells it for 50 cents a gallon. Not sure how much it would cost out of one of those machines, but I think I red somewhere that someone uses the water out of that machine for his tank. You may just want to get a small sample and run it through your test kit to see how it stands up. Personally, anything is better then your tap water.
I think the mixing of the water and salt at this time is up to you. Though, IMO, If you don't have enough, you might want to go ahead and wait. That way, your water chemistry will be uniform when you added it.
Meadbhb
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top