Blog Comments

Live sand refers to the bacteria that is present within the sand though and not any critters that may be within it.

Critters, no name to critters, just critters. Lots of critters that make up live sand, that's why it's live.

My mistake, you did not mention fish. As far as snails and hermit crabs/ other creatures are concerned, they really aren't going to come to the surface for air even if for a few hours or more with no circulation from the pumps. When you purchase snails and hermits online, they are shipped in zip-lock bags and left with little more than a wet paper towel to be shipped over the period of more than a day.

A few things, first I didn't say fish will come to the top, I said critters like in sand critters. Critters will start to come out when they have lack of air. Surface of sand, Not water. And normally from take down to pumps up and running normally takes a while. And, I know all this from experience.

HAT

When I last moved, I set up my current tank by transferring the LR & livestock from my old set up but seeded a fresh, new sand bed. I mixed 80% fresh saltwater on site and treated the entire process as though I was bringing the livestock and corals home from the fish store. I don't believe I encountered too much of a cycle, but keep in mind that I only had 2 fish at the time in a 58 gallon. All my corals survived and they are doing better than ever.

I suppose you will be fine so long as you keep your live rock submerged and feed very lightly thereafter.

Your sand will not go bad from a half hour without the pumps on, and i'm pretty sure the fish won't come to the surface as an indicator either. I would however get an air pump for your livestock bin since these moves normally take at least twice as long as you plan them to. Just remember that with even half of your water volume gone, providing it's a true 20 gallons of water, you are looking at 160 pounds not counting sand and the tank weight. So make sure you accurately accomodate for the true weight of the thing.

Not sure on the sand issue though. I would think cleaning the sand in RO water and then putting it back would be fine, but i'm not quite sure of the best option for you. Hopefully someone else with experience can chime in on this one.

I'm surely not all pro like Melev, ;-p but I believe since you can do the process fast (if you can) go to a sporting good store and get a few battery operated air pumps. (made for fish holding bin for bait). Leave a few inches of water in tank and drop one in to keep sand living. Put live rock and coral or separately in bin or ice chest and drop pumpkin there. Drop pum in all containers and things should be ok. If sand goes bad you will know because creature will normally come to surface for air if they are about to die. Just my thoughts! ;-)

HAT

Ok so the Nitrates are at an all time low.. could not detect any. I dont have a phosphate kit though..
My salinity sits kinda high but has been like that for a while. 1.027-1.028
Maybe I can slowly bring it down, and see if that helps. The big aiptasia is right close to the polyps.. do you think he would be stinging them? He cant reach all of them though.

I understand your desire to avoid the additional cost, but you simply never know what may come in your tap water at any given time. If you want to buy water from your friend or your local fish store (LFS), that's an option. For me, I didn't want to ever lug water around so I bought one of my own. It paid for itself within the first year.

Any my tank looked way better.

Yeah i know I need RO.. but until then. I mean I do keep a power head in the bucket with the lid mostly closed.
My buddy has RO and was thinkin on selling stuff.. but that'il get expensive.

You absolutely must get off the tap water, unless the TDS measures something unusually low (like below 10). Tap water contains metals and fluoride, which Prime won't remove. It usually fuels nuisance algae. Leaving water stagnating in a bucket for a week isn't good either. Prime doesn't take long to do its job, and during your waiting period anything can get into that water to pollute it. You should just get one of these: http://www.melevsreef.com/rodi.html

My actinics come on around 11AM and turn off around 10:30 PM.. and daylights.. from about 1 to 7..
Yeah the button polyps have bleached and are never open like they used to.. the mushroom coral seem fine though.. in the picture they seem pale but they are a nice dark redish brown.
The temp doesnt swing much i dont think.. i check often and it is always around 75.

I do not have a skimmer yet.. i think im gonna DIY that up soon. and no I do not use RO. I use prime in my tap water and try to let it sit in the 5 gallon buckets at least a couple days before i do a water change. And preferably a week.

I will check all my water parameters tomorrow as I have had a long day and my daughter is getting tired and cranky.
Thanks alot guys.

Temp swings of more than a few degrees can be a big stress for livestock, try to limit this if possible. If your tank is running warm and cooling at night you want to set your heater so it doesn't dip too low from your high point. Do you have a skimmer? are you using RO water? If you can give us your Water Parameters and Hardware details that would be great.

The stuff on the sand could be diatoms or it could be cyano. Adding some other critters can help keep it clean. Here's the list of things I would add:
1 tigertail cucumber
1 serpent starfish
10 hermits
1 fighting conch
5 nassarius

For the rock & glass:
15 ceriths
15 astrea

How long are you running the T5 lighting each day? Your corals are hardy, but look a bit bleached. that makes me think too much light based on your description of the bulbs and the bulb height off the water.

I have 6 T5s over the tank about 9 inches over the water I guess.. 3x 10K, and 3x actinics.. its around 234watts. The polyps were good before, and they started going downhill when I put the T5s in. Im pretty sure I shocked them at first cause it was probly at least 150 watts more then when I previously had..
I do only have one big astrea snail though, and about 4 large nassarius snails.. so yeah im pretty short on those I guess.
The algae on the sand is really hard to syphon though.. Im going to have to try and scoop the top layer off or something. I also noticed these tiny lookin flat worms on the glass, which I dont recall ever seeing.

What kind of lighting is over that tank? Do the button polyps open up more? High nitrates may be the cause of them being closed up like that.

How many snails do you have in the tank? The rule of 1 per gallon still holds truth.

Yep... woohoo fun. So while im waiting now im trying to figure out if I could build a protein skimmer

Bummer. Time to clean up the QT, and get something new cooking!

Well I only had two.. and both are dead now ... so the at least 8 week cycle begins... Sucks man I have had my damsel for over a year now.

Yeah, QT all fish, and let the tank sit fallow long enough to break the life cycle of the parasite. It's the only way to fly!