rearranging and replaceing

[corndog1212]

Ok where do I begin. Like most reefers I am sick of looking at a rock pile/wall. It cuts down flow and catches all the crap. My 75 gal DT has been running a year and a half and I am wanting to change out my sand because it is super fine and blows around every where and cant put any flow down low. I've read to suck out half and replace with new, wait and then do the other side in a week or two. will this help cut down on a big/long cycle? my other question with the sand is what do you reefers think of black sand bottoms?

Now on to my POS rock pile. there are a lot of posts on how to aquascape and very cool ones at that, but my imagiination is limited to my fear of not liking it after i epoxy my live rock. But that is a personal problem. lets get back on track. I am currently dealing with a GHA and think I should cook my rock but dont know the fastest and safest way to remove the phophates? When I started this tank I used the dead rock from my 55 gal I let dry out and did not clean it the way I now know you should. Hence the GHA. Sorry for the rambeling. Any help would be great.

I run a 75 gal DT with two mp10 and two radion LEDs, 55 gal 3 segminted fuge, reef oct skimmer, mag 18 return.

 

[ANFPO]

black sand bottoms are fine. They make he tank look smaller, and unlike white sand, you dont get the benefit of reflecting light back at th corals from the bottom.

If your curren sand bed is less than 1 inch, i would remove it all at once with a uge water change. As long as you have good established liverock, there shouldnt be a recycling of the tank.

If youre goona "cook your rock" I wold do it in NSW with lanthanium chloride and no light. That works better than boiling/nuking it because it preserves bacteria and other smaller order organisms, but no pests sionce there should nt be any corla hosts.

 

[_shorty_]

I encourage more research on the black sand. It may look cool, but I've read somewhere that there was speculation of higher silicates in the black sand - or something along those lines that ended up causing issues later. Sorry I can't remember the details, it's been a while.

As far as your rock pile, I like to stack the pile as best I can - it becomes a big 3D puzzle on how things fit together vs what I have pictured in my head. There is definitely some creativity and usually frustration involved. If you take the rock work out to 'cook it' somehow, it'd be nice to structure and epoxy it before putting it back in. Just be aware of how much space you have to work with. Also the right type of epoxy is required. I've used some 'two part' epoxy from local hardware store in the past, for small pieces that just did not either stick and/or hold up well.

No comment on cooking rock. Never done it. Good luck, though!

 

[Spyderturbo007]

I would love to find a way to rip out all my rock work, and start over again with dry rock. Unfortunately, I have a distinct feeling that my tank would crash if I tried that approach.