Cleaning crushed coral substrate

[navychief]

Well. The sand storm is over after all the good information. The Ocean Direct Live Caribbean Sand looks awesome in my tank. I have about a 3.5" bed from it. It took me 95# of the stuff and the crap wasn't cheap. I think I was able to finally see a pretty clear tank after sitting for the night. Tomorrow it should look a lot more clear so that I can post a picture.

My only concern is will I see the cycle of algae again?

 

[navychief]

Pics as promised

Pics as promised

Well. Here's the pic that I promised of the substrate changed out from CC to Caribbean sand. I ended up using a large fish net to scoop out the CC as slowly as possible so as not to stir up to much detritus. In the process, I moved half of the little bit of LR I currently have to one side of the tank, then moved it to the other side to scoop out the rest.

I found that even though the bag for the Caribbean sand said that no rinse required, it made a big mess on the first 30# bag. Luckily the white cloud did not effect my critters. After that event, I decided to wash the rest of the sand with the existing tank water...kill two birds at once.

After the sand (still need to add more, but will wait for next water change) was in place, I added the new salt water.

The tank bed looks great, cleared in a few days, and reflects the light, giving a brighter tank!

For those wishing to change out CC for something better, it's nothing hard, just time consuming and a bit expensive for the good substrate.

The green tupperware item is protecting my shrinking donut from the peppermints.

 

[reefworm]

nice start! glad you mentioned the tupperware - I was going to say something about it being the most symmetrical moon coral I'd ever seen!

 

[navychief]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13009400#post13009400 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reefworm
nice start! glad you mentioned the tupperware - I was going to say something about it being the most symmetrical moon coral I'd ever seen!

thanks! THis is about 8 months worth of tank build and learning. I just hope my donut makes it.

 

[Michael]

Re: Pics as promised

Re: Pics as promised

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13008507#post13008507 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by navychief
Well. Here's the pic that I promised of the substrate changed out from CC to Caribbean sand. I ended up using a large fish net to scoop out the CC as slowly as possible so as not to stir up to much detritus. In the process, I moved half of the little bit of LR I currently have to one side of the tank, then moved it to the other side to scoop out the rest.

I found that even though the bag for the Caribbean sand said that no rinse required, it made a big mess on the first 30# bag. Luckily the white cloud did not effect my critters. After that event, I decided to wash the rest of the sand with the existing tank water...kill two birds at once.

After the sand (still need to add more, but will wait for next water change) was in place, I added the new salt water.

The tank bed looks great, cleared in a few days, and reflects the light, giving a brighter tank!

For those wishing to change out CC for something better, it's nothing hard, just time consuming and a bit expensive for the good substrate.

The green tupperware item is protecting my shrinking donut from the peppermints.

looks good, sorry i have not replied for a week but ive been away on vacation, and yes im sunburnt

 

[navychief]

Put the last of the sand in during my latest water change today. It works pretty good to rinse the sand with the old water before putting the new sand in. The tank looks good, albeit there's not a lot in there atm.

I'm still worried about my meat polyp.