The Big Change!

[teetee]

I am planning for my big DSB conversion this weekend (taking out all the CC & UGF from my 135g).
My concern is a potential recycle/ammonia spike problem. It has been suggested to do the change in thrids. This I can not do as dismantling a 6" UGF plate in thrids would be too combersome.
I currently have 3 Aqualear 500s running with a good colony of bacteria in them. I also have about 50 lbs of live rock. Should this be sufficient in prventing a potential problem? My DSB will consist of coral sand, aragonite, and a live sand kit. I am aiming for a 6" deep bed. Other filration includes 3 802 powerheads, and a Berlin protein skimmer. What do you think? Any precautionary measures I should be taking? Thanks a bundle. TT `

 

[broomer5]

What kind and how many fish/inverts do you have in your 135 ?

 

[guppie]

You have a very large project on your hands. I have never used a underground filter in s/w but I have removed one on a large f/w tank and you will have to deal with a lot of crap from under the plates, you will need to get that out of you tank, so plain on doing a large water change. I hope your live rock is cured, that will help out alot. IMO I think you will have some kind of a ammonia spike to deal with but as long as there is no fish in the tank to worry about you should be fine, and I would think it should not take long to get it back to normal. One thing is to make sure you rince out the spounges from the aquaclears in the water you take out of your tank they will get clogged. Good Luck

 

[nm reef]

Might be best to remove all lr to containers with tank water....also remove all critters to containers with tank water and a lil circulation maybe also a heater if necessary.........save your remaining tank water in containers.....then remove ugf & cc.......place new sand bed then refill tank with removed water....maybe turn a lil cloudy but should settle over night(mine did anyway)...I used 3 mechanical filters to help mine clear.....after it clears a bit replace rock then critters.....gl......tough task but I bet you'll like the results longterm.....

 

[jups1]

If you can't remove everything from your tank, here's a little trick that worked for me. Take out all LR but 1 or 2 pieces. Move that to 1 end of the tank. Everything will hide under that rock and you can work on the other side of the tank. I simply pulled my UGF up after scooping out most CC. Remove as much CC as you can, then work on the next piece of UGF. They come apart easily. Keep moving the rock around, and your critters will keep moving with it. If the cc is really bad, you can vacuum it first. Otherwise, the water should clear after a day. I didn't have an ammo spike in my tank, and made quite a mess when pulling out the UGF. It cleared within a few hours, because I hooked up a canister filter to remove the "gunk".

 

[teetee]

Thanks for the input folks. I am currently washing out the sand and aragonite. Boy that aragonite sure needs rinsing! Will to the set-up tomorrow morning.

 

[perps]

I have recently done the same thing about a month ago. I'll letcha know exactly what i did. Turn off everything. I only did a 55 gallon tank and in your case you'd need much larger equipment. First i syphoned some of the half of the water of the tank into a 20 gallon tank.. Then removed the LR and placed it in the 1st tweny gallon. I syphoned the 20 more gallons into a 20 gallon tank. Removed the fish from the main tank. And then Emptyied and clean my 55 gallon tank.. i removed all the cc placed it in a 5 gallon bucket .. 40lbs of CC fits in a 5 gallon bucket. removed my corals and place them in a 5 gallon bucket and left the light on over them added an airstone for circluation. In the fish tank i removed the powerhead from the ugf and place it in the FO tank.. i used a stocking cap to capped the bottom so nothing got sucked in. Removed and cleaned the filters. I them poured all the LS into the tanks.. slowly added water back to the main tank.. That way i dont have that much stir-up from the LS. Added the LR back into the main tank. Syphoned the water from the FO tank back into the main tank only 15 gallons of it.. (I'd figure i'd might as well do a water change while doing this.) .. added the fish back and the turned back on the filters.. and everything worked fine.. I have virtually NO RE-CYCLE .. i think for a day my amonia went up a bit then everything thing when back to normal.. If you'd like i got pics.. Let me know

 

[teetee]

Well it's finally done. I can't believe it. I have been planning this day for months! It was not as bad as I thought it might be. It did however take about 6 hours of solid work. My back, my back!
Water cleared after about 2 hours. I added some Bio Zyme as a bacteria refresher. All is well. Fish & inverts all doing fine. No stress what so ever.
So to those contemplating switching over to a DSB. Go for it. Not only is it good for your fish/system, it sure looks fantastic!