Changing Filtration

actionjack

actionjack

Member
I have had my 125g reef running for about a year and a half now. I'm having problems with my stand so I will be replacing it very soon. I also wanted to change my whole filtration system. So I have a few questions.
1. I have been running a "standard wet/dry" system? I dont know what its called. So I wanted to make a sump/refugium. Now if I did this change would there be a problem with my current livestock adjusting to this change or what?
2. I will be adding new LS and LR to the refugium, so will I have to "cycle" it before i attatch it to the DT?
3. When I empty my DT, is it OK to remove the sand also or would this be too much of a disturbance? I would have it held in buckets for no more then 1 hour.
I dont have a skimmer running at the moment, my stand is too short, and theres no room for a hang on, so I will build a taller stand. I also do not have a refugium.
 
scsinet

scsinet

Active Member

Originally Posted by actionjack
1. I have been running a "standard wet/dry" system? I dont know what its called. So I wanted to make a sump/refugium. Now if I did this change would there be a problem with my current livestock adjusting to this change or what?
More than likely. When moving from a wet/dry approach to a Berlin approach, you have to make sure that you have enough live rock and sand (1.5lbs per gallon plus of rock), and have enough bacteria established in them.
What I would do is make sure you have enough rock and sand as described above, remove 20% of your wet/dry bio media per week until you have it all out. Keep an eye on your levels throughout, and don't continue removing media until you have stable levels. Once your levels are stable with no wet/dry bio media at all, you are good to change over. This will give your tank time to adjust to the change so it's not such a shock.
Originally Posted by actionjack
2. I will be adding new LS and LR to the refugium, so will I have to "cycle" it before i attatch it to the DT?
No, but you'll want your live rock to be cured unless it's a very small amount (under 5lbs or so). Check the threads under the "Reef Tanks" topic for info on how to do that if you don't know.
Originally Posted by actionjack
3. When I empty my DT, is it OK to remove the sand also or would this be too much of a disturbance? I would have it held in buckets for no more then 1 hour.
As long as there are no animals in the tank at the time, and you store the sand in it's onw bucket. The sandbed can hide hydrogen sulfide pockets that can cause your livestock real problems. Be sure to let things settle out when you re-introduce it before you add the fish back in.
 
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