? on sand getting new sand.

[wwfstyle]

Ok I have been having troubles getting my bicolor blenny out so I have to tak out most of my LR around 115lbs in my 75 gallon tank. My wife says that we need to get rid of the blenny and I can do what ever I want once he is out and theLR is out. Well I made the mistake of doing 50/50 on LS and CC. So now I am going 100% sand. Also my wife had me leave corpse of other corals that have died and they also will be gone THANK GOD. So my question is I don't have that much left of lets just say allowance. So I was thinking about getting PlaySand from Home Depot. I hear that SouthTown is good but hard to find. Is there any other sand I can get. Are there any disadvantages of getting the $2 bags of play sand from Home Depot? Or do you guys think I should just leave it 50/50 and just take out the corpses. THX Rick

 

[capschamp]

I wouldnt go with the 2 dollar bags unless they are the old castle/southdown play sand from the carribean. Check the lawn/garden dept thats where it was here. definately take out the crushed coral, i think that most people would tell you that, though i may be wrong. I could be really wrong on this but I think the coral corpses would just become live rock after time? Not sure.:thinking: Hope to help.
And just out of curiosity, why get rid of the blenny?

 

[bigarn]

It's SouthDown sand...not SouthTown. I'd mix some LS in with the playsand for seeding purposes. Between the LR and some LS your sandbed will cultivate.

 

[wwfstyle]

Getting rid of the blenny because everything I buy for the tank it attacks it! Yesturday I bought a few guys and he killed my foxface, and was picking on my other guys. So I wnat a peicefull tank so I contacted my LFS and they will take him in for trade. Ill contact Home Depot and see if they can order me some. THX for the help guys. Oh about the corpse my wife likes them to be up close and see all the new critters in there. To me they just look like a big black thing in the middle of a whitesh sand bed. Not pretty looking I think.

 

[ezee]

Hi Rick,
I am sort of new to this but everything I have read leads me to believe that leaving the decaying corpse of any creature may spike your ammonia levels causing all kinds of problems, especially if it is something big. Can anyone confirm that?
E

 

[bigarn]

Confirmed.

 

[capschamp]

Sorry about the loss of the foxface. I would take out the blenny no matter what it takes after it was attacking others. If the decaying coral looks like poo then there is no question that it should go. :yes:

 

[wwfstyle]

THANK YOU GUYS.... I am going to have my wife read this and show her what those dead things can do. She getts really upset If I start messingaround with the tank to much. She doesn't like change. But as for now she said that I can do what ever so I better take advantage of it before she changes her mind.

 

[wwfstyle]

OK just to update you guys on that Southdown sand... I am getting it from my lfs $35 a bag and thats the cheapest I have found it. I called one place and they wanted $55. THATS just nuts. I went into Home Depot and Lowes and tried to have them ship me a few bags and they said that they don't do rhat and they where pretty rude about it too. I was talking to my wife and I told her that the LFS will hold our fish till my tank is reset up and the sand has settle. BOY she blough up and said that the fish can stay in the sand fog tank. What you guys think? My wife will be reading this so hopefully she will understand. I just wouldn't want to live in a sand fog for a week or so... And I dont think my fish would either. I was thinking 100lbs of LS would be good enough for my 75.. What you guys think?

 

[kiharaconn]

Wow Rick I agree with you I wouldn't want to live a week in a sandstorm either. You mentioned that you took all your lr out. How have you got it stored? That may make a big difference in how you handle this. If you lfs has offered to hold your fish I would think that would be the better plan. If you haven't stored your lr in water with a air pump you will have die off which will cause a mini cycle. You should put it all back in after the fish are gone and do your tests before adding the fish back. I know fish can go a few days without eating but I've never heard anyone say a week? I may be wrong on that. Anyway they wouldn't be able to find food during the sandstorm. Plus I would think the sandstorm would make it hard for them to settle and would cause stress.

 

[wwfstyle]

Well I took all my LR out and placed them in 2 120qt. coolers with a powerhead inside. The LFS guy is comeing over tomorrow and help me drill a few holes in my wall and restart my tank. I guess I could say he is a good LFS guy cause he isn't chargeing me for his time. If he is able to do that then he should be pretty much into his customers rather than the $ part of the business. Well time to suck all that old poo sand up later guys.

 

[discgolfer]

what is so bad about crushed coral that everyone here is bashing it. I am setting up my tank and am doing a mixture of crushed coral and Live sand. Not all of us have the money to spend on all live sand

 

[spline9]

You dont need to use 100% LS. To keep costs down, just use some LS and some dry sand. The LS will seed the rest of it and eventually become LS.
I'm redoing my 50/50 LS/CC substrate. I have a small tank that I am seeding a bag of dry sand with a mesh bag filled with my current LS and 1lb of LFS LS. I will put that in the tank when I'm ready for the changeover. I havent had time to do it yet. When I do, I'll need another bag of sand. I'll add dry stuff again since I now have a bags worth of now LS.
Personally, I just prefer the look of sugar sand. I've gotten tired of the chunky CC look.

 

[big911dog]

LS v. CC is a long standing debate topic. PERSONALLY, i prefer sand. CC can be a holding pen for detritus which will spawn nitrates. That's one of the biggest drawbacks.
You don't have to have all LS. Technically, you don't have to have ANY LS. Eventually, the LR will seed the sand also. Its just a matter of how fast you want to get it done. If ur willing to pay the extra $, u can get all LS. If ur willing to wait a little more time, get the unseeded sand substrate for a lot less money and seed with a little LS.
Either way, the sand will eventually become LS.
P.S. Go with what YOU prefer! Understand the pros and cons for both and deal with them appropriately. Then ENJOY the work u've done! :yes: