Substrate Question??
- Thread starter mcgoo
- Start date
ctgretzky9
Member
What is the reason you want to change?
ctgretzky9
Member
I would say leave it. I have had cc forever, and I think it is fine. You should do a light vacuuming every once ina while, but I dont even do that anymore.
Substrates are always in and out of "style."
Years ago, deep sand beds were all of the rage, now they are falling out of favor.
Now bare bottom is all the rage, and even that already is passing it seems as people discover it is TOO sterile.
Stay with what you have if you are not having any problems.
Substrates are always in and out of "style."
Years ago, deep sand beds were all of the rage, now they are falling out of favor.
Now bare bottom is all the rage, and even that already is passing it seems as people discover it is TOO sterile.
Stay with what you have if you are not having any problems.
blazehok68
Active Member
i found that with a cc bottom that my phosphates were through the roof. i think i might have been overfeeding a little bit though too. when i took mine out, i took it all out at once. took all the rock out, drained all the water, then took a shop vac and vaccuumed all the cc out. put the sand back in, put in the rocks and coral, put back all the waterm and did a huge water change just to be safe in case of a cycle. it wasnt to bad either. took about 4 hours or so.
ctgretzky9
Member
Originally Posted by BLAZEHOK68
i found that with a cc bottom that my phosphates were through the roof. i think i might have been overfeeding a little bit though too. when i took mine out, i took it all out at once. took all the rock out, drained all the water, then took a shop vac and vaccuumed all the cc out. put the sand back in, put in the rocks and coral, put back all the waterm and did a huge water change just to be safe in case of a cycle. it wasnt to bad either. took about 4 hours or so.
Yes, that can happen with phosphates and nitrates. cc will trap particulate.
The secret is a good clean up crew consisting of hermits and shrimp, and having a good base of critters that live in the cc.
I notice a lot of pods, brsitle worms, mini-starfish (dont know the specific names of them) in the cc, and they seem to do a great job of cleaning it up as well.
I used to vacuum it, I havent in about 6 months now, since I seem to have a good amount of life in it, and the hermits seem to do a great job of cleaning up the top layer.
Now i have almost non existant trates and phos. A good skimmer helps as well, of course.
i found that with a cc bottom that my phosphates were through the roof. i think i might have been overfeeding a little bit though too. when i took mine out, i took it all out at once. took all the rock out, drained all the water, then took a shop vac and vaccuumed all the cc out. put the sand back in, put in the rocks and coral, put back all the waterm and did a huge water change just to be safe in case of a cycle. it wasnt to bad either. took about 4 hours or so.
Yes, that can happen with phosphates and nitrates. cc will trap particulate.
The secret is a good clean up crew consisting of hermits and shrimp, and having a good base of critters that live in the cc.
I notice a lot of pods, brsitle worms, mini-starfish (dont know the specific names of them) in the cc, and they seem to do a great job of cleaning it up as well.
I used to vacuum it, I havent in about 6 months now, since I seem to have a good amount of life in it, and the hermits seem to do a great job of cleaning up the top layer.
Now i have almost non existant trates and phos. A good skimmer helps as well, of course.
ctgretzky9
Member
Originally Posted by Mcgoo
I like the looks of the sand and I heard it was beneficial... Undecided
That depends on who you talk to. It was once thought to be beneficial, well because that is what is in nature. Problem is, in an enclosed aquaria, with little water volume, there isnt much room/dilution to compensate for bed crash. The ocean has plenty of water volume to accept that the sand bed gets overturned/ruptured etc...
A lot of people have gone bare bottom simply because of that reason.
I would stick to what you got just because it is no work to do that, and in my eyes, no matter the substrate you would use, there are benefits and problems with each.
I like the looks of the sand and I heard it was beneficial... Undecided
That depends on who you talk to. It was once thought to be beneficial, well because that is what is in nature. Problem is, in an enclosed aquaria, with little water volume, there isnt much room/dilution to compensate for bed crash. The ocean has plenty of water volume to accept that the sand bed gets overturned/ruptured etc...
A lot of people have gone bare bottom simply because of that reason.
I would stick to what you got just because it is no work to do that, and in my eyes, no matter the substrate you would use, there are benefits and problems with each.