Getting rid of UGF!

737mech

737mech

Member
Well I've decided to get rid of the UGF that was in my tank when I bought it used. I'd like to go with a DSB of argonite reef sand and some live sand too. I can't get that southland sand (in TX) that I've read so much about. I was thinking about 55 lbs of cured live rock too. How does it sound so far?
I need to get that UGF out of the tank first. I was thinking of draining the water into a clean plastic trash can and putting the clowns in there while I worked on the tank. I'll put a powerhead in the can. Is it possible to get the UGF out and the live rock and sand setup and put the clowns back in the tank in the same day?
I'm worried about the tank wanting to cycle afterwards.
Has anyone done this successfully with no fish lose? I'd put the clowns in my QT, but I currently have a fish in there now.
Any ideas for me? Thanks...
 
T

thomas712

Guest
Your idea sounds good. Just out of curiosity are you having problems with your UGF, are you fighting high nitrates or yellow water? How long have you had the UGF in there. Do you have any other form of machanical filtration?
I would pull the UGF out first, with the clowns and any live rock into a tote with powerhead and keep and eye on the temp. Save your water right to the top of the CC. do not desturb the CC or UGF while taking your water out.
Then attack the CC and UGF, if its been there for a while this could be messy and dirty. Discard any of that water and crud as well as the UGF.
Adding the sand and rock at the same time to a system after removal of CC and UGF may very well cause a recycle or minicycle.
Your Liverock may suffer some die off because of shipping unless you get it fully cured from a LFS. Your agranite sand may very well change your ph for a while. But it can be done.
You may want to keep your fish and liverock in a seperate container for a few days, or some people do it all at once like your thinking, just trying to give you some ups and downs here.
Have a water change ready using RO water preferably, also have a source to get more RO water if necessary.
When you get your rock, smell it, If it stinks you will have to recure it, This can be done in a seperate container without lights, using powerheads, and it would be prefered to use a skimmer. You will have to do waterchanges while curing it IMO.
Save some of your CC and place in nylons, to make balls out of for seeding bacteria back into your sandbed. Or if you have some other type of filteration, keep it wet so that you can use it right away after the change. If you already have liverock this will help too.
What other equipment do you have.
Thomas
 
737mech

737mech

Member
Thomas 712
I've been fighting red slime algae and have had nitrate problems. There's a Skilter 250, that has a fairly useless built in protein skimmer. I was going to keep using it just as a filter. I am in the market for a new protein skimmer. Do you have any recommendations? Something reliable and quiet Thanks for your ideas!
 
T

thomas712

Guest
Starting with the Red Slime algea, this is most likely the Blue-Green algea known as Cyanobacteria which is one of the fast growing ones. This would suggest that you not only have a nitrate problem but also a phosphate problem as well, your lighting might also be a part of the factor here.
At this point I would do a water change, USING REVERSE OSMOSIS water, from a water store or RO vending machine like you find at Meijer or Walmart. At least a 20% water change. Also the use of a phosphate remover and a fresh batch of carbon on this tank. IMO lots of carbon. I would do at least 3 such water changes over the next 3 weeks. I would change the phosphate remover and carbon every 3 to 4 days until your testing of phosphates shows less than or = 0.02 ppm of PO4.
I would be tempted to just yank that UGF and do a large water change up to 50% and let things stabalize for a while. I've done things like that before. Everything was much happier after that. If you go this route, mix your water up with heater and powerhead, mix it for a couple of days, airiate if possable just before the change.
As to the skimmer question: Lots of answers here. It sounds like you have no sump or wet/dry so you are looking for a hang on back type skimmer. The skilter is really a low end, (ok lowest end) skimmer. aka a hunk of junk, but better than nothing. I do not personally prefer HOT skimmers, but you can check out the DRY GOODS button on the left of your screen for some choices there. My suggestion on the choice of skimmer here is to start another thread about hang on tank skimmers to get the most info and experience on them, and or do a search using the search button at the top of the page.
Thomas
 
737mech

737mech

Member
Thomas712,
I have a h2o sample in my truck that I'm going to get tested for phosphates today. My lighting is 2 strips for a 55w total 50/50 flo.
I have used ro h2o from my LFS for 3 months. The other owner did not. He used tap h2o. The tank has been in hypo for 5 wks. So there has been many h2o changes in the time that I've owned it. This tank was really a mess when I got it. I am still new to the hobby so I didn't want to change too many things right away. The tank also came with fish so I was afraid that I might kill them while I was trying to make the tank better. From the way it looked when I got it, it's so much better. I really think that it can be even better still. After finding this site and reading other peoples posts, I have gotten some great info and ideas.
What type of lighting should I be using with live rock. I think I'd like to make this a FOWLR tank or with only cleaner type inverts like crabs, snail and shrimp. I'm not sure if that's really a FOWLR tank. What about adding a pink tipped anenome? I've read that they are hardy. I know I need to upgrade my lighting I'm just not sure how much??
THANKS
 
T

thomas712

Guest
In my brief fowler days I was only using 80 watts of NO lighting and had very good to excellent coralline growth, however If you think there is even a slim chance you may come home with an anemone because it would be so cool with a clownfish then you should go for VHO or PC lighting, with the VHO I would say at least a two strip and around 220 watts for just a FOWLER. At the min. I would try to double your lighting. JMO
Thats just my Idea, lighting ideas are vast and many.
Take the time, go to your LFS and look at there show tanks, find out what lighting they use. Use the search button on lighting there is a ton on top of a ton of information out there.
Thomas
 
scotts

scotts

Active Member
I was reading this and thinking Wow they should make that Thomas guy a shark, he is knowlegable and taking so much time to help this guy. Then I realized that they already did. Congrats Thomas.
Now back to 737mech.
Scott
 
737mech

737mech

Member
Thomas
I was surprised when LFS tested a h2o sample for phosphates. They told me there were none in the sample? This still hasn't changed my mind about pulling the UGF out. My LFS is having a sale this weekend so, I'll get my rock then. I'll let you know how things go.
Thanks for all your help.
 
737mech

737mech

Member
Thomas,
Pulling the UGF went well. I bought 52lbs of live rock and added 20lbs of live sand to my argonite reef sand base. It's about 3.5 - 4 " deep. One thing that has surprised ne was that the nitrates now read 0. I had at least 15 prior to the change?? The tank did not cycle. It's been 4 days now and no amo. I'll keep cking on it to play it safe. The tank was well established from a previous owner. I wonder if that made the difference on not seeing a cycle?
Anyway the clowns are back in the tank and actually don't seem so scrappy. The are staying close to each other. I guess I broke up their territories. I hope that they are on their way to becoming a matted pair.
I also upgraded my lighting to pc 130watts. I bought a canopy that I'm going to mount them to. When I get this all done I'll post a pic.
I would like to thank you once again for your help and guidance. I'm so glad that I found this resource of experience and knowledge.
 
T

thomas712

Guest
Thanks for the update glad things are going well :)
Remember to pay attention to your calc,alk levels with the liverock in there you will want to maintanin those levels.
calcium 400-450 ppm
alkalinity 9-11 dKh
mag 1300 ppm
Was it dirty under the UGF?
Thomas
 
737mech

737mech

Member
There was some of what I would call sludge under the UGF. I truely did not know what I'd find under there.
On the 3 new levels to ck, are these elements replaced when you do a h20 change? How often should I ck on these? I have a h20 sample to take to my LFS today.
737mech
 
T

thomas712

Guest
In some measure your Calcium, alkalinity and magnesium will be replaced by waterchanges.
However depending on the salt that you use it may not be enough to keep at the proper levels. Also the demands of your system, meaning corals that use the three elements mentioned, or even your liverock.
Since you are keeping a FOWLER, I would not necessarily worry about stocking up on those additives yet, the reason that I mention them is that to maintain your coralline algea on the rocks then you will also need to maintain Calcium and Alkalinity.
Magnesium does not get used up very quickly, it helps to keep the other two Calc and Alk at higher levels that we need without precipitating out of solution. It doesn't need to be tested as often as Cal and Alk.
When you get your rock and have it the way you want in your tank, the coralline algea may start to fade and turn white, could be lights or it could be an inbalance with your calcium and alkalinity.
Thomas
 
737mech

737mech

Member
Thomas
I had the h20 tested for the 3 elements and it came back Cal. 300,
Mag. 750, Alk. 3.0 They recommended some Kent products. TechM, Liquid Calcium, and Strontium & Molybdenum. The mag. seemed the farthest out. They said that the Alk would come up with the Cal. level.
I supplimented the tank last night.
Do LFS usually charge you for the cal and mag tests? They said they would have to, but forgot to when I went up front.
I've got the new lights installed on the new canopy. I thought I'd run one of them for a short period of time and slowly add more time to it and then do the same with the other. I don't want to get sunglasses for the fish.:)
Thanks 737mech
 
T

thomas712

Guest
My opinion. You will not need the Stront & Moly additive, this is normally replaced just fine by a water change.
I happen to use B-Ionic, a two part additive for Calcium and Alkalinity. sometimes I also use Kent Turbo Calcium and Super Buffer. You might want to get some Magnesium.
My LFS does not charge for testing for most, but does for something like Iodine I think, like a dollar.
I would advise that you order Salifert Calcium, alkalinity and Mag test kits and learn to do it your self.
Sounds like your doing fine on the lights. Brighten things up a bit?
Thomas
 
737mech

737mech

Member
The tank with only 1 65w on. Do you think that I should go slow with increasing the light intensity?
 
T

thomas712

Guest
Say - you know some of you others can pop in here and say.
NICE LOOKING TANK 737 MECH :D
Thomas
 
737mech

737mech

Member
Hey thanks! It looks a lot better now than it did when it was FO, (not that there's anything wrong with that):) It's a 38 gal tank. I wish it was larger, but that's all the wall space that I could get. I'm going to take it easy stocking the tank. There's so much to consider before you buy....
 
T

thomas712

Guest
737Mech
Hows everything looking after a month of no UGF and the new substrate?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top