Reef tank crash help!

[jimmaki]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2199793

Sorry, your link takes me to a TOTM, just a beautiful tank by Carlos Moreno, but nothing about a crashed sandbed. Maybe my browser is on the fritz.

Oops, sorry, I clicked on "more details" and did read whee Carlos kept experiencing crashed sand beds. I don't think I'll go to the elaborate setup he did, but I definitely will not be leaving a sandbed intact for more then 3 years. Maybe change out half of it every couple years. Right now my live rock sits on the sand bed so I'll have to make up some kind of platform to support the rock when i suck the sand out.

 

[FINGAZZ]

I had two diamond gobies for quite a while until I accidentally left the cover open one night. Found them both on the floor the next morning. Didn't have the heart to replace them in case I made the same mistake. The are jumpers!

mine is still in my tank.i have no covers and he never jumped out on me.had him for 2 months now.well if he ever goes missing ill make sure i look on the floor.

 

[jimmaki]

You're lucky. Maybe you got a calm one. Google "jumping diamond gobies"

 

[FINGAZZ]

You're lucky. Maybe you got a calm one. Google "jumping diamond gobies"

ill check it out.thanks.

 

[jimmaki]

So far I've done three 50% water changes. The first two didn't get much positive response from the corals ... no polyp extension. On the third water change I removed most of the sand. Didn't want to tear down the live rock so I left the sand under the rocks. A day after the third water change, about a third to half the coral polyps are starting to come out, but not all the way. They stay out about 5 hours and then close back up several hours before the lights go out.

I think I'm reaching the point of diminishing returns on the water changes. Things do seem to be improving, but it's not back 100% by any means. Two days after all the sand was removed, nitrates are still 0, so I don't think the sand bed was doing much in the way of getting rid of nitrate. I'm guessing the Fiji rock has enough deep cavities to take care of it.

 

[K1983]

Check this out, hope it helps:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/5/aafeature2

Good luck

 

[jimmaki]

Thanks for the great link ... I have to plead guilty to falling into a false sense of security that allowed me to skip some maintenance steps thinking the tank was doing so well without them. (like water changes) I know the goal of some reef keepers is to never have to change water by using aggressive filtration and regular dosing of essential major and trace elements. I've often read that one shouldn't dose what can't be tested, so I'm leaning back towards my old way of doing things and one includes regular water changes. I've replumbed the entire RO/DI, salt mixing, tank filling, siphoning/draining system to make that all a lot easier with pumps and permanent PVC tubing.