Turtle's Fairy Tale
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- Thread starter SashimiTurtle
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OP
OP
Hahaha, yea. Holy grail...
The first 9 months or so I was hell bent on not doing water changes. So I didn't do water changes which means no siphoning the sand. The tank was suffering some corals were great, some were ok, some were iffy and I just couldn't keep others. I made it my new year's resolution top get this tank looking amazing. So I decided that once every 4 weeks I would suck out the sump, clean equipment that needed it and refill the sump with fresh salt water. Which also means, no siphoning the sand.
It was almost an instant turn around. It still looks like there are a few I just can't keep(stylophora and select acropora(I have 3 growing, 3 dead)) but everything else is doing wonderful.
Montipora grows wonderfully but down not up(I have a theory I'll discuss later), my birds of paradise is about to grow a new branch, the trumpet coral that lets me know first when something is off is growing. Oh and this thing... check out the photo up there from July and the one from tonight to look at how big it is now. When fully open, it touches the rock to the left, the one behind it, and almost touches the corals to the right.
OP
OP
I think so too, and it did have a lot of fines. They may also have been filtered out from my wrasses diving in and stirring it up when I was still running socks.
Well, I have some left over special grade aragonite(hahaha, new phone wants to autocorrect aragonite to Aragorn and dragonite) from the Reefer250... and there is some of the ocean direct that dried out. I doubt there is enough organics in rinsed live sand to cause an ammonia spike. I'll add that tomorrow.
Mariette
Valuable Member
Hahaha, yea. Holy grail...
The first 9 months or so I was hell bent on not doing water changes. So I didn't do water changes which means no siphoning the sand. The tank was suffering some corals were great, some were ok, some were iffy and I just couldn't keep others. I made it my new year's resolution top get this tank looking amazing. So I decided that once every 4 weeks I would suck out the sump, clean equipment that needed it and refill the sump with fresh salt water. Which also means, no siphoning the sand.
It was almost an instant turn around. It still looks like there are a few I just can't keep(stylophora and select acropora(I have 3 growing, 3 dead)) but everything else is doing wonderful.
Montipora grows wonderfully but down not up(I have a theory I'll discuss later), my birds of paradise is about to grow a new branch, the trumpet coral that lets me know first when something is off is growing. Oh and this thing... check out the photo up there from July and the one from tonight to look at how big it is now. When fully open, it touches the rock to the left, the one behind it, and almost touches the corals to the right.
I am speechless. Utterly utterly speechless.
OP
OP
You missed the spam from this past week... I'll see if I have anything worth sharing.
OP
OP
Oops, I wasn't done yet...
Last two are zoomed in too far and look like poop, but I promise the corals look great.
Last two are zoomed in too far and look like poop, but I promise the corals look great.
OP
OP
Scurvy
Pirate Reefer
This is interesting. Settling makes the most sense to me without a chemistry degree. Is there any chance of it breaking down?
I know in my Reefer I would find large clumps that were fused together for lack of a better term. Almost turning from sand to small rocks. I never did understand it.
I know in my Reefer I would find large clumps that were fused together for lack of a better term. Almost turning from sand to small rocks. I never did understand it.
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NY_Caveman
likes words, fish and arbitrary statistics
I like #2 due to the position of the Clownfish.
OP
OP
Huh, like a calcium reactor, but with sand and not in a reactor with CO2?
The BRS160 had the same thing when they were removing the sand. Since it is a running tank going from sand to bare, some of the hard stuff under the rock structure had to stay.
OP
OP
You convince the melanarus and both leopards, and probably soon to be Aku, they do not need sand. Oh, and make blue yoga mat look like sand... :p
NY_Caveman
likes words, fish and arbitrary statistics
LOL!
Brew12
Electrical Gru
I do see that, but maybe not quite that extreme. I think it does settle but I know mine tends to wash to the center of the tank. I pull it out to the front again when I clean the sand bed.Hey, just the guy I was looking for... well you and @Brew12, @Fudsey maybe @sfin52 as well. @NY_Caveman runs bare bottom...
Have any of you noticed your sand... disappearing? Check out these photos.
First one is from July last year, after the reboot when the first tank cracked. No sand has been added or removed since then.
There is at least 2" across the entire tank in the first pic and the second there is barely enough to cover the front part of the tank, and it's not like I have 4" of sand in the back either. Is it just settled and compacted, or what? Either way, I think I need to add some more sand.
Brew12
Electrical Gru
It should take a pH of under 7.6 to start breaking down. It might happen locally but I doubt it is a large cause.
OP
OP
I think mine has that also. I was looking and that pesky brittle star has a few spots under some rocks where it pushes the sand out, but otherwise there is a good bit of sand under the rocks. Not enough to make up for my 2" coverage when setting up the tank tho.
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