questions??...questions??..questions??

[kinder7668]

hello im new so be easy on me but i keep coming up with so many questions and this site seems to be the only place i can get good answers to them....
1)tank is 4 weeks in nitrites are high ammonia just droped out today...but my ph wich has been good all along is now down to 8.0 do i wait till the tank cycle to remedy this or do i do it now and how should i go about it just a water change????
2)after my tank cyles should i do the water change and vaccum cc right away or should i wait...
3)have cc but really want sand tank almost cycled dont want to start over any way to make the change without the wait of cycling again??
4)i really want to have a reef tank not fo but as it stands i have only 10lb of live rock(1 peice) in my 65 gal and 3 big peices of tuffa and alot of lava rock is this ok do i have to go run out and but a ton of live because it is verry expensive at my lfs

 

[flamesofifreet]

I tried a 24 gallon reef with about 8 pounds of Lr and it didn't work out. It's expensive near me too (about 7-10 bucks a pound) I'd recommend ordering LR online it is much cheaper. ***********.com has it pretty cheap.

 

[team2jndd]

Ok as for rock just get mostly base rock this site sells it for cheap and then get a few lbs of live rock it will eventually all turn live. As for the sand you cant switch without atleast another mini cycle. Somebody else will have to give you more info on that for ive never done it but I cant think of any way to do it without level spikes. As for the PH it will go up with water changes.

 

[puffer32]

Please delete the link to competors site, its not allowed, sorry...... Besides, you can't do better then what this site offers. Really nice LR at a good price

 

[blackburnd]

I am only gonna try and help with the substrate change.
I did the switch from CC to LS about a month ago. I was misinformed about the CC,

and as soon as I heard the downfalls I made the switch. Luckily for you; you have no livestock in your tank yet. Wherever you choose to get your sand, and whatever kind you decide on if it is plastic bags make sure there is still water in the bag. I have seen this stuff in the bags and it's dry because there was a hole in the bag.
Once you get the stuff home the real fun begins :jumping: . First you are gonna have to remove the CC. Do not remove your rock. It's not really a must to remove the rock for this procedure, and you don't want to take the risk of any die off from doing so. When I did it I left the rock where it was, and got as much CC as possible. Then I started pushing it all to one side of the tank. Once I had a fairly good area of uncovered glass I moved all my rock to this spot. After the rock was moved I did my best to keep all the CC on one side of the tank and just kept removing until it was gone.
Now for the sand. If it is in the bags (

I know some places you can just buy it by the bucket or whatever) rinse the bags with warm water thoroughly. This will remove any debris from the bags. Then take the bag over to your tank. Cut a small hole in one of the ends of the bag, and slowly submerge the bag in the tank with the non cut side down. The reason for the hole is the air bubble that will rush out when the bag is cut underwater if you didn't cut the hole. Basically it just lets the air come out while you submerge the bag. Once the bag is on the bottom take a clean knife and cut down the middle of the bag and flip it over. Spread the sand out and set up your rock. I put about :thinking: 1/4 of my sand in then set up my rock then put in the rest of the sand. If you cut the bags and dump it gently on the bottom of the tank you will have very little debris. Especially compared to dumping it in.
After I got it all set up I did about a 25% water change. My water was kinda nasty (I didn't rinse my CC before I put it in

). Plus I had to get my snails, and crabs back in the tank they had been out for a long time at this point. It all ended pretty good for me. I had no casualties from the change, and that stupid CC is gone

 

[kinder7668]

thanks alot for helping but i have a crab and a few snails and a couple of damsels can i leave them in while i go through tis process do you think this will make my tank have to cycle again or do you think it will be the same

 

[trigger11]

I would recommend making a small QT tank and keep your livestock in there until you get the switchover completed. Otherwise the fish will get really stressed out.

 

[blackburnd]

My tank did not cycle again... But I would remove everything. I put all my stuff in a little plastic tub. Think of it this way. You would't want to accidently crush a snail, or crab while moving rocks, or bury one...