New Tank: food debris on bottom, first cleaning/water change...

redman1221

redman1221

Member
Originally Posted by DJboozeAlot
ok, but should i reuse all the water i take out of the tank, or just start over with new water? how many pounds of sand per gallon should i be putting in there?
This would be a good time to do a water change if you are going to change to a sand bed. You can use half of the water that is in your tank now and half new. Just my 2cents maybe someone else can help you more. Good luck
 
gillyweed

gillyweed

Member
Fish live by a light/dark schedule much the same as people do; so you want to run your lights for a max of 12-14 hours a day. Most people only run them about 8 hours a day; perhaps with actinics (the blue colored lights) a couple hours before and after. this simulates "Dusk/Dawn" lighting to be more natural for the fish.
Just fyi that light you have will not support anything beyond normal fish; so you will need to upgrade if you want more. Good luck! You are starting in the right place by coming here
 
djboozealot

djboozealot

New Member
Originally Posted by Gillyweed
Fish live by a light/dark schedule much the same as people do; so you want to run your lights for a max of 12-14 hours a day. Most people only run them about 8 hours a day; perhaps with actinics (the blue colored lights) a couple hours before and after. this simulates "Dusk/Dawn" lighting to be more natural for the fish.
Just fyi that light you have will not support anything beyond normal fish; so you will need to upgrade if you want more. Good luck! You are starting in the right place by coming here


thanks. i know i need a better light setup and will be getting one soon. i am having a hard time finding one that will fit ontop of my tank... it's 24" wide, but all the ones i have seen online are too wide to fit. the plexiglass that the light shines through is only 4" wide and for the wattage i need, moist of the lights i have seen are like 8" wide. so i am thinking about scrapping my whole canopy and building my own out of plexiglass. do many people have to do this?
 
jkcrumb

jkcrumb

Member
Originally Posted by DJboozeAlot
salinity is around 1.023, but i have a crappy swing arm hyrdometer, so i don't know how accurate that thing is. i just bought a refractometer online though.
my light is just a basic 19w flouresent bulb. i was told i need about 4w for every gallon and i am working on getting a better light setup, but i wasn't planning on spending as much as i have so far and will need to wait a little bit. the place i got my damsels and live rock said my light will be fine for now since i dont have and live corals, but it will just take longer for the tank to cycle. i am running this light 24 hours a day.

You defiantly need to back down your lighting to about 8 hours a day........Algae feeds on light.......no light, no algae (I'm exaggerating a little). You can run the lights to match your schedule so they are on when your home.
Also, I would bump you Specific Gravity up to about 1.025.........this will also slow the algae growth.
I still think you're light on the LR.........If your LFS sells it already cured I would by about another 15 lbs or so..........this will also make for a better atmosphere for your fish.........they need places to "get away" when they want to.
I had the same problem with the algae growth on the sand during the cycling process.........It will eventually go away on its own.........2-3 months
 
jkcrumb

jkcrumb

Member
o yea...........buy a timer at Home Depot or something........use to set set up your light schedule..........A good one only costs $18 bucks and it will make your life a whole lot easier.
You can use timers for all kinds of things....Here is a picture of my setup......I use 3 (MH - T5 - Lunar) for the lighting, 1 for the main pump (to turn off the same time every day for feeding), one for my power heads (turn off during feeding and late night during their rest time, on for my protien filter (run every other day)
Good luck
 
uberlink

uberlink

Active Member
Originally Posted by DJboozeAlot
ok, but should i reuse all the water i take out of the tank, or just start over with new water? how many pounds of sand per gallon should i be putting in there?

You could probably re-use most of the water, but you don't have to. You could use as little as half of it. You might want to take your fish out during the changeover. The sand will stir up and stay suspended in the water for a day or so.
On quantity, it's not so much pounds per gallon. It has more to do with depth in the bottom of the tank, and there are a few schools of thought on that. One is to go with an 1 to 2 inches of sand in the bottom, the other is to go with a so-called "deep sand bed" of four inches or so. A lot of people really like the deep sand bed approach because it gives a lot of space for nitrifying bacteria and, if you don't stir it up too much, can contribute to a zero-nitrate system. Look into that a little bit and decide. For me, I have just an inch or two, which is fine--particularly because I have large sump with a very deep sand bed and a variety of mangroves and macroalgaes.
Anyhow...
 
djboozealot

djboozealot

New Member
Originally Posted by uberlink
You could probably re-use most of the water, but you don't have to. You could use as little as half of it. You might want to take your fish out during the changeover. The sand will stir up and stay suspended in the water for a day or so.
On quantity, it's not so much pounds per gallon. It has more to do with depth in the bottom of the tank, and there are a few schools of thought on that. One is to go with an 1 to 2 inches of sand in the bottom, the other is to go with a so-called "deep sand bed" of four inches or so. A lot of people really like the deep sand bed approach because it gives a lot of space for nitrifying bacteria and, if you don't stir it up too much, can contribute to a zero-nitrate system. Look into that a little bit and decide. For me, I have just an inch or two, which is fine--particularly because I have large sump with a very deep sand bed and a variety of mangroves and macroalgaes.
Anyhow...
thanks... are there any drawbacks to a deep sand bed? if not then i don't see any reason why not to go deep.
as far as the LR goes, i WILL be upping it, but i was told that for the cycling process that what i have is fine, and when it's cycled to add more. my tank is about 3 weeks old now and ammonia is 0, nitrites 0, and nitrates around 30-50.
 
uberlink

uberlink

Active Member
You should search on this board for more info about deep sand beds or "DSBs" as they're often called. The most obvious downside is that some consider them ugly--inches and inches of sand up the side of the tank. Beyond that, if they're not done right (and I don't know enough about them to really say what that means), I understand they can be detrimental--potentially creating areas of sulfur production that can be harmful. I have also heard some people say that over time they can become more problematic. But others swear by them, so do some research.
For me, I've been completely happy with a 1 to 2 inch layer of standard live sand, coupled with a refugium with some seaweed growing in it. (And by the way, a refugium need not be a huge undertaking...on the small system I have at work, I have a slightly larger than normal hang on tank filter that is stuffed full of chaetomorpha macroalgae and has a small light on top...works great.)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top