moving fuge

[brandon2432]

I am going to be replacing my fuge/bio-ball sump with a 55gal all glass sump with micron sock/fuge/heater and pump. What is the best way to move the sand bed of the fuge I have now to the new fuge in the 55gal? I do not want to kill the pods and very much live sand. Any suggestions or help would be great.

 

[BLEEDSALT]

I don't know if this will help you, and is probably not the correct way. When I was moving sand in my tank, I used one of my kids plastic sand shovels. I am not sure of the affects it would have on pods and such. You could try running a net through the sand to gather pods prior to moving the sand. luckily the sand will flow through the net and anything bigger will stay behind.
Chris

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Why do you want to add sand in your sump/fuge? Chaetomorpha does not need any sand. Pods don't seem to care if there is sand in the fuge or not. Most macroalgae seem to grow attached to rocks using their holdfasts. Turtle grass and other sea grasses grow in sand/mud, but we cannot keep these things very well in our tank - beds too shallow and not enough light.

If you are trying to do the miracle mud system, that's another story all together.

I don't know if you want to use filter socks all the time. It's not the best thing IMHO unless you intend to replace or wash them every few days. Filter socks trap way too much gunk and also micro fauna including various pods and micro stars. An occasional use is fine since it polishes water nicely.

Tomoko

 

[NicoleC]

The gentlest method is to carefully remove the top 1/2" of sand (a plastic sand shovel will do fine!) trying not to cause a lot of horizontal trauma. Set aside.

The rest of the sand can be moved more forcefull; there's little life in it. If it really smells bad, toss it out.

I like having sand for various sandbed worms and other critters which do a nice job cleaning up detritus, but for this you rrally only need an inch of sand. If you are attempt to use a deep sand bed for detritification, I'd suggest Calfo's remote DSB method. It's kept in the dark and mostly lifeless save for bacteria. If it gets smelly (i.e. polluted) you can just replace half at a time.

 

[brandon2432]

That is what I wanted. There is only about 1 1/2- 2 inches of sand in my fuge now. It is full of little stars and worms and bugs thought it is good to have. The chaeto grows really well now so I figured why change it?