algae problem

[dkol02]

So when i first bought my tank i didnt research and bought CC and now im paying for it there is hair algae everywhere i have a rock blenny in the tank but it seems that he just cant take care of it all any advice?
Also is there any way to change to sand now with our killing everything in the tank i hear the crushed coral is a big problem with nitrates

 

[mobert]

It shouldn't take too much effort to change out a 46 gallon tank. One or two clean garbage cans to transfer all your stock, change out the bed and once the water clears, acclimate and return. Just set up the temporary containers with heater and circulation and they'll be good for a few days. Some people like all the fine sediment and funk in the really fine sand but I would just rinse it to help clear the water faster. But then again, I went bare bottom so maybe I shouldn't be say anything here....

 

[jstraka1]

Re: algae problem

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9453050#post9453050 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dkol02
So when i first bought my tank i didnt research and bought CC and now im paying for it there is hair algae everywhere i have a rock blenny in the tank but it seems that he just cant take care of it all any advice?
Also is there any way to change to sand now with our killing everything in the tank i hear the crushed coral is a big problem with nitrates

I did the same thing I removed mine gradually over time, I did bi-weekly water changes and siphoned out some of the CC with every waterchange until all was gone. It took a long time, but I think there was much less of a bacterial shock that way.

 

[dkol02]

ok thanks i was thinking of doing the siphoning idea tonight i will let you know how that works i really dont want to tear the rock work apart but if i need to i will.
how long did it take for your tank to clear up after putting the sand in?

 

[Fermat]

I did the same about 4 months ago... Took out the cc over a two week period. I think it was a lot of trouble though and if I had to do it over again, I think I would have moved everything to separate containers and cleared it out in one shot. Maybe my siphon wasn't strong enough or something but I got terrible clouding.

Tearing the rockwork apart can be a real bummer, but there are certain situations that warrant it and this may be one of them.

I did not rinse my sand, and clouding was no issue at all. I put some sand in a large zip-loc bag, then slowly lowered the bag (open on top) into the water and let the water enter the bag and wait for all the air bubbles to leave. Then I carefully lowered the bag to the bottom and very slowly let the sand pour out. In this way there was very slight clouding which was near completely clear in under an hour. I think a 30lb bag of aragonite took 3 zip bags and was done in 30 minutes.

 

[Chago09]

ya I have been reading a lot of these problems now but ofcourse my newbism got to me and I purchased CC before knowing all of this. Although unfortunatly I am moving at the end of August so when I move I will remove all live stock and place them in coolers and buckets. Then the tank will be cleaned out and when I move into the new home I will replace the CC with livesand which will be very very easy when there is no water in the tank.

The tank would not need to totally recycle though would it??