tweeter
Valuable Member
Hi, I'm looking for a thread from a few years back on taking sand out of an established tank, and washing it to refresh it. I think it was written by a guy named Brandon S? Can someone help find it?
Thanks!
Thanks!
Looking for sand bed wash thread
- Thread starter tweeter
- Start date
- Tagged users None
Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread
If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...
www.reef2reef.com
OP
OP
tweeter
Valuable Member
HI, that's so nice! So what I'm looking to do is just to take out all my sand out of my 125 gallon tank and wash it all. This tank has been running for 9 years and needs a reset, so to say. My nitrates are high, and the sandbar is so dirty that I know that this is my best option right now. What is your suggestion? This is a deep sandbed BTW
I love this type of job. This is all on the line, no room for error, with bad procedure you can kill the whole reef. true tank surgery/fun/love it
I'm 100% sure we can do it safely, we have done about 200 or so large tank moves in the sand rinse thread. the key is cloudless rinsing, and not caring about the bacteria lol /ironic
(said in jest, but the truth is fearing about bacteria loss causes folks to under rinse the sand/ which leaves in clouding waste/ and can kill the new tank. by trusting that our rinse process does not remove the bacteria on rocks, the ones we care about, you can rinse thoroughly= no cloud= skip the cycle totally)
post a full tank picture here/ those give unspoken details that assist in the custom plan
post a big nice ful tank shot here and Ill write out the plan and once it's done and the pics shine like rubies/no cycle on the tank/ all animals fine we can add this whole thread to a new work example on the sand rinse thread p 60
I'm 100% sure we can do it safely, we have done about 200 or so large tank moves in the sand rinse thread. the key is cloudless rinsing, and not caring about the bacteria lol /ironic
(said in jest, but the truth is fearing about bacteria loss causes folks to under rinse the sand/ which leaves in clouding waste/ and can kill the new tank. by trusting that our rinse process does not remove the bacteria on rocks, the ones we care about, you can rinse thoroughly= no cloud= skip the cycle totally)
post a full tank picture here/ those give unspoken details that assist in the custom plan
post a big nice ful tank shot here and Ill write out the plan and once it's done and the pics shine like rubies/no cycle on the tank/ all animals fine we can add this whole thread to a new work example on the sand rinse thread p 60
A rip clean is one of the most invigorating, refreshing, oxygenating things you can do to a reef tank. though this will be 8 hours of horrible rinse work lol, your payoff is another X number of years to fill up the waste basket again. cleaner running, less glass scraping, less algae and overall invasion- corals on full extension eating well since all the waste has been cleared out and you can feed better (until it all fills up again, price of having catchment sand in reef tanks vs bare bottom)
folks view reef tank rip cleans as harmful, they're not at all. they're like a mouth feels after a trip to the dentist
where that dentist rasps, flushes, scores, scrapes, avoids gumline distress like we work around corals/organics are flushed out of the mouth and you feel like a million bucks until its time to go back again 6 mos later lol waste buildup and removal are cyclical events.
rip cleans are reef dentistry. that filthy sandbed is a tongue that has never been scraped/uggg lol
folks view reef tank rip cleans as harmful, they're not at all. they're like a mouth feels after a trip to the dentist
where that dentist rasps, flushes, scores, scrapes, avoids gumline distress like we work around corals/organics are flushed out of the mouth and you feel like a million bucks until its time to go back again 6 mos later lol waste buildup and removal are cyclical events.
rip cleans are reef dentistry. that filthy sandbed is a tongue that has never been scraped/uggg lol
Excellent pics and reef. You have hit the tune everybody wants for a hands off sandbed, all they care about is no algae problems or invasion issues which you don't have and they care about strong coral growth which you have
I advise not messing with that tank or its bed in any way until you have a problem or a pending move. You're at the bell curve peak for that tank and it may last years, if this was a small nano we could easily rip clean it like a trip to dentist but this huge reef will take 25 hours to rip clean and its perfect as we see it
I advise not messing with that tank or its bed in any way until you have a problem or a pending move. You're at the bell curve peak for that tank and it may last years, if this was a small nano we could easily rip clean it like a trip to dentist but this huge reef will take 25 hours to rip clean and its perfect as we see it
I'm 100% sure we can rip clean that tank safely and it'll be pristine white sand, but I recommend we don't do it now, do it when the bell curve trends downwards
OP
OP
tweeter
Valuable Member
Thank you! To tell the truth, I was very concerned for my fish. The corals I know would to do fine, but the fish is another matter. And like you said, I know that it would take a long time to get it done. I'm 61, so it would be very hard for me to get this done without feeling like I'm going to die from exhaustion!And I know that it would take from daybreak , til past dark. It would be hard on this old lady, but hey, I'm tough. Anyway, you have convinced me to hold off. The main reason I was thinking to do this, was as I said the nitrates are higher than what I want, cause I can no longer keep the LPS in there that I like. But the fish are more important, so I can live with that.
Thank you so much for the advice and kind words!
Rmckoy
7500 Club Member
Brandon .. right up your alley of expertise.
I never thought I would read the title “ need to wash my sand .
nothing screams “ @brandon429 ” as loud or clear
I never thought I would read the title “ need to wash my sand .
nothing screams “ @brandon429 ” as loud or clear
OP
OP
tweeter
Valuable Member
I just wanted to share one more pic with y'all. This is my other tank. It is smaller, 55 gallon. It's been running for 10 years. It has NO sump, a HOB filter, and HOB skimmer.Period.
I hand dose everyday.
You truly have the hands off ability the 90s told us everyone would have if they just put sand into the tank six inches deep
But then it usually doesn't work and we need rip clean cheats
In both tanks above, that's what folks strive for. Rip cleaners don't mind cheating to save their tanks or make a solid save transfer home move, but I'm glad to see you continue playing reef music your way it's best...earned those pics. If you ever want to move tanks or put it in surgery for whatever reason I want the job for sure we can do it as a live time work thread.
And in relaying the absolute latest fish disease trending from Jay's forum as a reason we should wait based on your initial motivation:
There is a direct pattern emerging of a small % of tanks who only did a big water change or upset to a system that hasn't been ran with extreme fallow preps and the system had a disease outbreak.
There was some sort of stasis in leaving the tanks alone, perhaps it was tomont distribution in the sand vs competition against them/dunno but I'm 100% sure unneeded in tank actions in otherwise pristine reefs has been seen associating with delayed outbreaks lately, i know because they've all been posting as false stuck cycles and its a large uptick in false cycle claims and its driving me bonkers.
All due to disease expression being positioned as the result of loss of ammonia control and not the other way around... we shouldn't mess with it because your fish are happy in fact. If that reef even looks at you sideways let's do immediate surgery
but as of now, maybe it's the best reef on the site.
But then it usually doesn't work and we need rip clean cheats
In both tanks above, that's what folks strive for. Rip cleaners don't mind cheating to save their tanks or make a solid save transfer home move, but I'm glad to see you continue playing reef music your way it's best...earned those pics. If you ever want to move tanks or put it in surgery for whatever reason I want the job for sure we can do it as a live time work thread.
And in relaying the absolute latest fish disease trending from Jay's forum as a reason we should wait based on your initial motivation:
There is a direct pattern emerging of a small % of tanks who only did a big water change or upset to a system that hasn't been ran with extreme fallow preps and the system had a disease outbreak.
There was some sort of stasis in leaving the tanks alone, perhaps it was tomont distribution in the sand vs competition against them/dunno but I'm 100% sure unneeded in tank actions in otherwise pristine reefs has been seen associating with delayed outbreaks lately, i know because they've all been posting as false stuck cycles and its a large uptick in false cycle claims and its driving me bonkers.
All due to disease expression being positioned as the result of loss of ammonia control and not the other way around... we shouldn't mess with it because your fish are happy in fact. If that reef even looks at you sideways let's do immediate surgery
but as of now, maybe it's the best reef on the site.
Last edited:
Similar threads
