Sand/tank RIP clean - During - After - Updates

[Cwentz758]

Well. I can say I never want to do this again unless I’m upgrading tanks. I know in the long run my tank is better for it. (Mostly hate the fact I have to go the stairs with buckets 20 times)

currently the tank is full Rock is back in corals for now seem ok. My temps were NOT matched. My RODI water was in the 60s I’m waiting to add the fish until the temp comes up some it’s currently sitting at 73.

Rinsing was a 45 min deal with all my sand in a 5 gallon bucket which 1/3 filled with sand. I started with hot water just rinsing and mixing with a old water change tube. This quickly made me realize I need to put my arm down there to really get a good mix. Nothing is more weirdthan putting your armbicep deep into a pit of sand with fish poop, shells, and the bogey monster you thing is gonna bite you. After doing this for 20 min I saw SOME result but it came to a halt and was just cloudy. So I took the garden hose and attached to my utility sink and plunged it into the sand and blew water from the bottom. This was much easier and I suggest doing this from the get go. Another 25 minutes went by and the water was basically clear or as clear as it was going to get, and I was out of hot water. So I rinsed the sand one last time with RO water and brought it up. I had the tank cleared with a shop VAC and it was ready. Added rocks back slowly, putting them in an RO bucket blasting them to clear whatever nasties I missed when I took them out and hit them with the tooth brush again. At this point I was just mad because the bucket thing and my rocks wouldn’t go back the way they came out. Go figure. I did however re home my Xenia and made room for my bigger hammer.

 

[Cwentz758]

The tank was very slightly hazy after being filled and the sand looks good. (It friggin better)

happy with the result. Unless I lose a fish and then I’ll be unhappy.

 

[2000se]

you'll be happy.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

I used to use a window screen to wash my sand. I now only have about 1/3 of my tank with sand so I just siphon and stir. I like your hose in the bucket trick.

 

[brandon429]

Cwentz

amazing documentation wow, just amazing.

please comment to us about sand in general in the reef tank

is it really just neutralizing waste, preventing work, making things easy


or does sand place out of sight, out of mind, some of the worst smelling funk we could possibly be collecting?

how are you going to handle the next storage release for the tank, in 2023 it’ll be the same work needed

lights are on ramp mode for a week is that right

 

[Cwentz758]

Morning after shot.

Currently everything is accounted for even the neon goby that must have hid in a rock even while dipping and scrubbing. Unfortunately I didn’t get all those dang starfish, I’ve picked out about 24 this morning.... the fish look good minus the clowns they must have beat each other up as they all have nipped fins.

The sand currently looks good, as I commented before getting a hose attachment to shove in the bucket was clutch as I have tiny cuts on my hands from the sand/shells. (Burns like hell this morning picking out the starfish) But, the sand started off the typical dirty cloudy brown you see in a water change. It stayed that way for the first 20 min of the rinse and I thought well dang this isn’t working. Finally it went from brown to cloudy and that lasted another 20 min atleast. At this point I was washing a lot of sand down my drain which was annoying so I moved the bucket to avoid that. I found it best to dump your dirty water instead of having a constant overflow over the bucket. Maybe next time I’ll do two buckets of sand instead of one big one.

I like the sand bed and I’ll be sure to do deeper syphoning when I change water especially now since the tank is 100% under my care. Hopefully next time I tear this down I’ll be upgrading to a 60x26x18 tank. This has made me really ponder going bare bottom, even though my current sand bed is only an inch and a half which is perfect for my watchman goby.

My current concern is an ammonia spike. The live rock was out of the water only seconds and was rinsed in RODI right before going back in the tank but was in a tub of DT water. I assume this will be fine I’ll measure tonight.

 

[Cwentz758]

Also yes I put the lights on acclimation mode for 5 days starting at 50% of what they were at. So they’re starting at 25% power and over 5 days will get back up to 50% total power.

 

[Cwentz758]

Also to anyone planning on doing this. I started at 230pm and didn’t finish until 10pm. It’s not a quick affair unless you have your new water right there with you. Also make sure you have enough salt on hand, I thought I had enough turns out I was wrong so I made a fast petsmart run. (Haven’t been there in years)

 

[brandon429]

We typically only use saltwater on rocks. However, I’m 100% sure a blast with freshwater cannot hurt bacteria housed in biofilm and jetting out the mulm is a major benefit all worth it. That white light shot above shows the degree of your work, that truly is surgical detail clean well done!! Ur set for a long time. Even glass cleaning for typical haze reduces for several months typically.


we wouldn’t consult any test kit other than seneye regarding ammonia spikes, it’s best not to run any non seneye kit it will induce false concern. The bioload and fish behavior will proof the ammonia. Even when a non seneye test is ran anyway lol and it may show .25, we are set here. Thats a cloudless new setup above therefore it cannot recycle nor mini cycle to any degree.

*we want to increase spot feeding of corals sustained, more than they used to get, with 2-3 gallon water changes after feeding sustained for a couple weeks.

maybe like twice a week, the spot feeding and mini export change.

The new clear tank allows feed input that we can use this window to add mass to corals via work, not parameter detailing. It’s all in the calories -we- burn/ putting on reef mass after a rip clean. Fish and corals love this new feed input nitrogen positive interval. We wouldn’t let the tank run day by day on the normal mode no mini water changes and no extra feed, nothing we’ve done here is normal lol don’t start now. the whole point was clearing invaders and waste feed first; then using the clean spaces to allow energetic feeding so corals are boosted in the process, above steady state. Only feed can do that, not dosing nor measuring.

Impressive: you were met with tank leaking verification challenge during takedown, temp prep challenges, sand rinse customization challenges / you really had to make decisions live time with all your $ and time sitting in buckets, heck of a good job this ride was like a coaster ride nice job !!

your details had me edit instructions on page one of sand rinse thread, excellent feedback.

 

[Cwentz758]

So my PO3 is now .68 after this whole thing. It was 0 before. Is that normal? I do have GFO running

 

[brandon429]

I would not run GFO nor respond to po4 testing, it all becomes a custom run at this level going forward, a stand alone documentation different than typical rip cleans. You have visually removed all waste from the system, unless you are using an undoubted accurate test I wouldnt respond to a single param beyond temp and salinity. the last thing Id ever run on a rip clean system is GFO, bleaching risk.

the documented safe action after a rip clean is a few weeks sustained of in/ out work exchange, not water tuning and testing... thats opposite and will tempt you to specifically not do the elevated feed and change approach we know is safe, which keeps corals in positive mass state and disease resistant.

feel free to customize as you see fit, we need results tracked of all varied starts so we can find patterns. what we provide is the safe restart though, your tank looks great on new day1.

 

[Seanb1]

Isnt there a starfish eating fish for your starfish problem?

 

[Cwentz758]

Isnt there a starfish eating fish for your starfish problem?

There’s a special shrimp. But I wouldn’t want to keep having to live feed it when it demolished these tiny ones

 

[Seanb1]

There’s a special shrimp. But I wouldn’t want to keep having to live feed it when it demolished these tiny ones

Yeah thats it a shrimp.
I think alot of people rehome them after they wipe them out.

 

[Adam Schindler]

The shrimp is a harlequin. Actually really cool to watch. I had one a few years ago when I had a massive starfish outbreak. Once he got them under control I was feeding him chocolate chip star fish for a while. Eventually my wrasse got ahold of him. But did a number on those starfish. Great rip thread. Looked like a lot of work.

 

[Cwentz758]

The shrimp is a harlequin. Actually really cool to watch. I had one a few years ago when I had a massive starfish outbreak. Once he got them under control I was feeding him chocolate chip star fish for a while. Eventually my wrasse got ahold of him. But did a number on those starfish. Great rip thread. Looked like a lot of work.

How often do they need fed?

 

[Cwentz758]

lights came on lookin good

 

[brandon429]

free ammonia assess via pics from prior post:

-it is not possible in reefing where sand and rock is avail that has passed a cycle to have holding or 'stalled' ammonia. ammonia is either controlled and functions at .00x ppm per seneye, or it is not controlled by lack of bacteria, surface area, or both, and climbs to lethal levels over nite and the whole tank is dead and water is cloudy. seneye is the only test kit that shows you real ammonia, there are no zeroes in reefing for ammonia...the other kits aren't designed to read ppm thousandths, so when using API or red Sea we get myriad responses of what ammonia might be, when indeed its really in the .00x level when compared to seneye (the safe zone for all reef tanks)


-open corals above signify ammonia in the thousandths, they simply will not open in uncontrolled-ammonia systems.


-the fish occupying all swim zones. ammonia burnt fish cannot breathe nor excrete new ammonia due to gills burnt. their gills flap quickly like palpitations, literal palpitations trying to get o2. they hover at the top near death.

your pics are that of a gemmed out reef a gemmin'.

 

[Adam Schindler]

How often do they need fed?

I fed once a week. Would cut off a piece of a leg and give it to him.

 

[CavalierReef]

" we don’t need sandbed bac. We only need rock bacteria." Really?? I've always read that diversity of bacteria in the sand bed can be very beneficial.