How do you clean a sand bed?
- Thread starter scubanut
- Start date
jim672
Member
ScubaNut,
Good move. I had nothing but trouble with my CC.
If you intend to have a DSB (Deep Sand Bed)which would be 3-4" of sand or more, the short answer to your question is "you don't have to clean the sand". To the contrary, you want to disturb it as little as possible. It will develop an anerobic (sp)area that will be part of your bio-filter.
There's alot more scientific information about this you can get if you do a search on DSB on this site.
Jim
Good move. I had nothing but trouble with my CC.
If you intend to have a DSB (Deep Sand Bed)which would be 3-4" of sand or more, the short answer to your question is "you don't have to clean the sand". To the contrary, you want to disturb it as little as possible. It will develop an anerobic (sp)area that will be part of your bio-filter.
There's alot more scientific information about this you can get if you do a search on DSB on this site.
Jim
jim672
Member
ScubaNut,
I would syphon the CC out to remove most of the detritus at the same time.
Once you've cleaned out the CC and detritus really well, you can apply the sand. No matter how you do it, be prepared for cloudy water for awhile. When I put mine in I used a medium sized plastic cup; filled it with sand; placed the full cup gently into the water and didn't turn it over to actually pour the sand out until the cup was at the bottom of the tank. I had cloudy water but I think I minimized it that way.
Good luck.
Jim
I would syphon the CC out to remove most of the detritus at the same time.
Once you've cleaned out the CC and detritus really well, you can apply the sand. No matter how you do it, be prepared for cloudy water for awhile. When I put mine in I used a medium sized plastic cup; filled it with sand; placed the full cup gently into the water and didn't turn it over to actually pour the sand out until the cup was at the bottom of the tank. I had cloudy water but I think I minimized it that way.
Good luck.
Jim
kris
Member
Howe would you clean it if you did not and could not have a clean-up crew?? Since the stuff doesn't penetrate (which is a good thing) how does it get removed then?? Does the dsb never grow any algae on its surface--how would you address that without stirring or siphoning??
Just extending your question scuba--since I too am curious and may eventually switch (not sure though with an agrtessive tank and no real nitrate issues, I have to ask why??)
What made you decide to do the switch??
Just extending your question scuba--since I too am curious and may eventually switch (not sure though with an agrtessive tank and no real nitrate issues, I have to ask why??)
What made you decide to do the switch??
bammbamm74
Member
Hey Scuba,
What do you have in your tank now? Remember, if you have LR in there now, are you going to take it out to put sand under it? If so, get yourself some buckets and fill them with water, put the lr and fish in there with an airstone or powerhead. You can get all your CC out and put the LS in there. You can be a little messier this way
because there is nothing in there. In about 2 hours or so (sometimes longer) The cloudiness will have mostly subsided. Then just stick your rock back in there making sure you get it into the sand a couple of inches for support. At least, that's what I did with my 25 gallon when I went from a 1" sand bed to a 3".
And Kris, how come you can't have a clean up crew? yes, algae will grow on the surface/can grow on the surface
What do you have in your tank now? Remember, if you have LR in there now, are you going to take it out to put sand under it? If so, get yourself some buckets and fill them with water, put the lr and fish in there with an airstone or powerhead. You can get all your CC out and put the LS in there. You can be a little messier this way
because there is nothing in there. In about 2 hours or so (sometimes longer) The cloudiness will have mostly subsided. Then just stick your rock back in there making sure you get it into the sand a couple of inches for support. At least, that's what I did with my 25 gallon when I went from a 1" sand bed to a 3".And Kris, how come you can't have a clean up crew? yes, algae will grow on the surface/can grow on the surface
heath
Member
in my experience, with a dsb and a lunar wrasse- my clean up crew is minimal-
i have a few starfish- one sand sifting, one red knob- about 10 large turbo snails, who are able to avoid being munched by the lunar (can't say this for puffs or triggers, though)
anyhoo, in terms of algae blooms, i have used a ladle to scoop up the algae off the top layer of sand, into a bucket then dump and rinse with saltwater (there's usually a bit of sand that makes it out)
and then back into the tank the leftover sand goes...
my clownfish also keeps the top clean with his tail wagging-
i have a few starfish- one sand sifting, one red knob- about 10 large turbo snails, who are able to avoid being munched by the lunar (can't say this for puffs or triggers, though)
anyhoo, in terms of algae blooms, i have used a ladle to scoop up the algae off the top layer of sand, into a bucket then dump and rinse with saltwater (there's usually a bit of sand that makes it out)
and then back into the tank the leftover sand goes...
my clownfish also keeps the top clean with his tail wagging-
scubanut
Member
In response to Kris-
I am thinking of switching because I've heard that it is a lot easier to maintain rather than cc. To my knowledge you do not have to siphon anything like with cc. As long as you have a substantial clean up crew it should be easier to maintain.
Does anybody have any suggestions on what size clean up crew I would need on a 75 FO tank. I have a koran Angel, true perc, and a powder blue tang, along with 5 turbo snails and a choc. chip starfish.
I am thinking of switching because I've heard that it is a lot easier to maintain rather than cc. To my knowledge you do not have to siphon anything like with cc. As long as you have a substantial clean up crew it should be easier to maintain.
Does anybody have any suggestions on what size clean up crew I would need on a 75 FO tank. I have a koran Angel, true perc, and a powder blue tang, along with 5 turbo snails and a choc. chip starfish.
jim672
Member
Scuba,
The rule-of-thumb I've heard for clean-up crew size is one snail per gallon and about 1/2 of a hermit crab per gallon.
One quick caution: don't get your clean-up crew until you're settled on your substrate and it has had a chance to grow some good algea. You don't want to starve the little guys to death!
Jim
The rule-of-thumb I've heard for clean-up crew size is one snail per gallon and about 1/2 of a hermit crab per gallon.
One quick caution: don't get your clean-up crew until you're settled on your substrate and it has had a chance to grow some good algea. You don't want to starve the little guys to death!
Jim
chainsaw5vent
Member
hey adam4481! how long has that tahiti black sand been setup? can you post some pix of it? that could be an interesting setup. <img src="graemlins//eek.gif" border="0" alt="[eek]" /> <img src="graemlins//freak.gif" border="0" alt="[freak]" /> considering dif ways to make my next tank look dif than others
adam4481
New Member
yeah i wanted black sand just for something different and it has turned out to really be the best decision ive made i think because the contrast that it brings out is so incredible...no i dont have pics of my tank but can get the sand at <a href="http://www.aquariumshoppe.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=AS&Category_Code=GRRO" target="_blank">sand</a>
chainsaw5vent
Member
okay. how's maintaining the ph and other factors? are you adding calc, kalkwasser, co2 system or any other supplements?
reeferx
Member
I have one more question for anyone out there. Is there any special way I need to change from cc to sand, or can I just take the cc out and put the sand in all at once. I don't want to make any major mistakes. <hr></blockquote>
SCUBANUT -
To play it safe I would keep some of that CC around during the transition. I don't know how 'live' the live sand you are getting is, but you want to keep that bacteria.
If I were you I would take a lot of that CC and put it in a filter sock, panty hose, whatever and put it in the sump or directly in the tank after you put the live sand in.
This should help prevent your system from shocking out and destabilizing.
SCUBANUT -
To play it safe I would keep some of that CC around during the transition. I don't know how 'live' the live sand you are getting is, but you want to keep that bacteria.
If I were you I would take a lot of that CC and put it in a filter sock, panty hose, whatever and put it in the sump or directly in the tank after you put the live sand in.
This should help prevent your system from shocking out and destabilizing.
kris walker
Active Member
Just want to point out that there has to be lots of detritus left over from critters crawling around and pooping in live sand. You just can't have clean sand and all these critters crawling around and eating stuff falling from the water column. And in this respect, it is no different from CC. But as everyone knows, the DSB has a better potential to complete the nitrogen cycle, so the breaking down of the stuff in the sand is no problem whereas it may be a problem in some tanks with CC.
kris
kris
kris
Member
This thread appears to be taking lots of turns here--but anyway--I can't have a cleaning crew because of the aggressiveness of my fish. No one would survive--ecxept maybe a sea biscut like anthem said once. I don't think I'll switch that tank. Maybe my smaller one someday though.
I agree totally with keeping that cc around in a filter of somesorts. Perhaps only switch a little at a time--not sure that would work though. I would be afraid of the whole upset of the system (especially if well stocked.)
I agree totally with keeping that cc around in a filter of somesorts. Perhaps only switch a little at a time--not sure that would work though. I would be afraid of the whole upset of the system (especially if well stocked.)