ITS HERE!

salt one

Member
today i got my live sand and my play sand and tomorrow is the day i switch my substrate from puka shell to sand. this afternoon i want to take the fish out and put them in there rubbermade container with a power head and my biological filter running on it. should i do this today or tomorrow? i want to get it done so i don't have to spend most of the day tomorrow trying to get that setup. when should i do this today or tomorrow?????
thanks
 

option720

Member
Matt-
i think that it is really your choice as far as doing it now or later. just some things to consider however. (1) are you going to fill the rubbermaid container water from your tank? (2) do you need to heat the rubbermaid at all.
good luck
 
I did this not to long ago and here is what I did step by step.
1. shut down the filters and powerheads.
2. Take out corals and place them in a 5gal bucket
3. take out lr and placed it in the container I purchased it in.
4. Take out base rock and set it aside.
5.Chase fish no luck take a brake.
6. finally catch fish and place them in a bucket with the corals
7. Scoop out cc with a net and place in a bucket.
8. Let the tank settle.
9. siphone off ditritus.
10. add live sand
11. add the previously mixed water to make up what was siphoned off.
12. add base rock.
13. add live rock
14. add corals
15. add fish
16. turn on powerheads and filters.
17. siphone off extra water.
Remember some corals can not be introduce to air so to remove them put a small container into the tank and put the coral in it, then place the container back into the bucket and deposit the coral.
I would wait for tomarrow to capture the fish because the shi* heads are so hard to capture.
Also I did not heat the bucket the fish were in I just closely monitored it.
Hope this helps and enjoy it is really an experiance to TRY to capture you fish.
Adam :D
 

fishman1

Member
My I butt in ? I under stand that playsand has a high rate of silcates that can causebad alage .Thank for allowing input. :D
 

salt one

Member
correct me if i am wrong but i think this sand is mined in the carribean so its natural and is ok to use in reef setups, or aleast thats what everyones been telling me.
 

andymi

Member
Fishman..I believe some are good and others are bad. Some people here think the Southdown Play Sand is fantastic..I removed it after just a couple months. Anyhow, I think it is mostly personal preference and how the tank is setup, but I dont believe the Southdown has silicates.
-Andy
 

mr . salty

Active Member
QUICK TIP,If you syphon out most of the water before you try removing the CC you will only cloud/mess up the little bit of water you have left in the tank.Then just syphon out and throw away this cloudy mess while you are cleaning the tank..Then refill with the good/nonclouded water you took out before.
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
To clarify, any playsand will NOT do. If you use playsand, it needs to be Home Depo's Southdown. If use others, it will be a disaster.
 

salt one

Member
well i got my sand washed and put in the tank at 2:00 today and the water was really milky. i let my magnum 350 filter run on it till 10:00 and the water doesn't look any different, how long does it take the water to clear?
thanks
 

@knight

Member
matt, I recently put together my 30g reef with a 3.5 in DSB using 90% southdown sand. It took almost 2 weeks for the water to clear. I recommend turning off all powerheads. Use as much mechanical filtration as possible and clean the carts frequently.
The tank started to show signs of improvement in 3 days, but if you did not rinse the sand well, it will take a long time to clear. the LR should be fine, but I would leave the fish in the hospital tank for another day just to be safe.
You will notice a sludge building up on the sided of your glass. after your water starts to clear, clean it off because it can be difficult to remove later.
The sand bed will be very volitile for about a month. anything that comes in contact with the bed will cloud the water, so be careful. Sooner or later gravity will do its job and you will be very happy with the sand. HTH
 
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