fish waste, (nitrate)

[khourglass]

whoa, u took the words right out of my mouth. Thats scarey LOL
Im basically the same i had a 6 Gal. seahorse tank in Sacramento, Ca. but when I moved back home to KY. stared a 29gal , also reaserching reef tanks, and do not get all the tech talk either I just keep reading though its like you cant wait to understand.
Thank goodness there are people like kipass.

 

[khourglass]

Ihave alot of the little bug (pod) things living all over my LR,
if I take out CC, will I be removing them.
Ive read on the board that these are a natural source of fish food.

 

[khourglass]

would I change out water completely, or use pvc or somthing and add sand to water?

 

[aileena]

I wouldn't switch to sand if I were you...now that I have sand I am wishing I had stayed with C.C.
When C.C. gets bad just vaccumm it, thats all...but when sand gets all dirty with detris and other crud you cannot vacuum it and you cannot stir it up either...all you can do is keep adding more and more clean up crew...its so difficult to set up a good functioning DSB that IMO its really not worth it...c.c looked nice and white when ever I vaccummed it, and I had that for over 2 years...now I have to figure out how to switch back to c.c.

 

[aileena]

I was wondering what critters you have in your DSB that keep is sparkely white? For the life of me I cannot get my dsb to cleanup...I only have 6 ceriths...I was told to add about 10 more and 20 nassarius snails too...

 

[lovethesea]

 

[lovethesea]

sand, no sand, just as I was about to jump in and decided to change.... I just don't want to "disturb" things if really don't need to. Thats why I have been really reading what you guys have been saying....

 

[aileena]

I have a 60g tank with a 4inch sand bed... its 48" long by 12" wide...obviously some of this space is covered with LR...
what are cirratulid and terrebellids?
I have some ceriths and plan on adding more, I am planning on getting like 50 nassarius to deal with the sand bed problem too. there is also a brittle star to help out.
Have bad luck with conchs...what do they eat? cause I had one and it died...
I have seen several bristle worms all over the tank...pods I have yet to see any cause tank is only 3 months...
The only fish I have are a YT and marron clown, there are 2 cleaner shrimp and 2 peppermints, a few scarlets, 2 turbos, and 5 trochus...
I really dont want to tear down the tank and add c.c. but I am having little success with the dsb thing...

 

[aileena]

i dont know if i can do this but on ---- there is a auction for 20.00 + 15.00 shipping = 35.00 it includes:
35 nassarius
20 ceriths
I just bid on it...hopefully for 35.00 I can solve my sand bed problems...
there is also an auction for 85.00 it includes
10 Spaghetti Worms - white
* 10 Bristleworms - pink
* 10 Nassarius Snails
* 20 Amphipods - Gammarus sp.
* 20 Copepods - mysis sp.
* Coraline Algae - pink and purple
* Macroalgae - BEAUTIFUL Feather and Grape Caulerpa
* 3 lbs. of Live Sand
* Miniature Star - white
I think this is a little pricey and not worth it...what do you think?

 

[aileena]

hopefully the ceriths, nassarius, brittle star, and bristleworms will do the trick, although the brittle and bristles have done nothing thusfar...

 

[gollus]

www.garf.com sells a product they call garf grung. They say it is a live sand activator, it is $5 a pound. I was skeptical at first but they threw in a free pound with one of my orders, and man the stuff is great I would highly recommend. Im sorry to mention a (sort of) competator, but seeing as SWF.com doesnt sell anything of this nature...

 

[khourglass]

hey lovethe sea, change over was a complete success, looks like a different tank.
I'll get some pics up soon of before and after.
Thanks to kipand everyone at the board for your help.
Kristi

 

[lovethesea]

Thanks would love to see it....I am still trying to convince my husband. He dosen't think we should messs with a "good thing"
Its a definate though when we get a reef tank up.

 

[khourglass]

yes I bought, live sand agra-live I think was the brand. There
was alot of cloulding last night I was afraid of what we had got
ourselves into at first. But we let it cycle through the night and
by morning it was clear enough to add the LR, crabs, and snails
back in. I did find something in one of my rocks during the move
that i havent got an ID on just yet though.

 

[khourglass]

I used 40lbs. in a 29gal. tank, so its probably 2-3 inches deep.
what kind of citters should I add ?

 

[khourglass]

any idea as to what kind of creature I found, he never leaves the hole in the rock as far as i know, hes black with white specs he looks like he bends easy , it almost looks like purple cabbage(for
lack of better terms),

 

[khourglass]

can you buy these in a package from SWF.com, or where can I get them if LFS carries such things what are they called as a group?

 

[khourglass]

I heard that bristles can be bad for your tank, alot of people on the board try to trap them?

 

[khourglass]

you seem to be a trusted member of the board, youve got to respect that. And alot of people seem to agree with you on this one so bristle worms it is.......
Thanks again
Kristi

 

[sammystingray]

For a sandbed....fighting conch all the way....only get one for that size tank though.... ceriths always leave the sand in my experience, and never clean like a fighting conch anyway....worth the price 100%. Bristleworms "smell" anything that is dead but once alive.....they will go after it with vigor....they will not touch healthy life, atleast not the common ones. GARF grunge is rubble rock, and garbage in my opinion.....that ---- deal on sandbed stuff is a ripoof....pods, and worms will be on just about any decent liverock....coraline and macros as well....I'm talking about a single rock if you pick it out yourself at the LFS.....the mini star will hopefully be an good asterina, but who knows? some eat corals....I wouldn't buy it. I have had three species of bristleworms for almost ten years now....all good. If you get a book more than a few years old, it might say they are bad.....this just shows the lack of research that went into the book...they got a bad reputation by hobbiests finding them eating things in the morning.....this was actually something that died for other reasons, and this myth was formed....authors should have researched more really. Bristleworms are a MAJOR part of my cleanup crew....newer research has been much better.....do a search on "Rob Toonen" and "sandbeds" or his name and bristleworms.....