Removing Plenium from tank

[hounddog01]

9 years ago when I setup my tank I went with a plenium. This seemed to be the "hot" thing to do at the time to reduce nitrites. To say the least it did not really work. In the last year it has caused more trouble than it is worth.

I have moved everything out of the tank into the new tank. I want to move another tank into the one with the plenium. I have removed the top screen and the bottom plenium. the tank looks like a mud slide I am runing filter socks and the skimmer really wet.

I have noticed some of the substrate has hardened and are in clumps. I plan on removing these clumps. once it clears up and then do a 50 % water change. I plan on checking ammonia, nitrite and nitrates.

If all of the chemestry is in order do you think the tank is ready to add the rock, fish and anenome from the other tank?

 

[elegance coral]

I would do one of two things. I'd trash that sand and buy new stuff, or clean the sand you have VERY well. If you have the money and don't want to spend allot of time cleaning sand, it's probably a good idea to just buy new sand. If you have time on your hands and want to save some cash, I'd take all the sand out and rinse it as well as possible. Then place a sheet on a flat surface outside, and spread the sand over it, to dry. You want it to be 100% dry. You may need to mix it up a little from time to time to speed up the drying process. Once it is completely dry, place some in a pillow case, and tie the end. Tumble the pillow case with the sand inside. This will cause the grains of sand to grind against each other, dislodging any stuck on detritus, and reduce the detritus to a fine powder. Once you've done all of the sand this way, you can take small amounts and rinse it in a 5gl bucket until the water runs clear.

I honestly don't think you will be able to get that sand clean enough to help support a healthy system without removing it from the tank. I'd also trash all the water that's been in the tank with that sand.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

plenum?

plenum?

break out the wet vac- perhaps it's time to go bare bottom

 

[elegance coral]

break out the wet vac- perhaps it's time to go bare bottom

That's not a bad idea either.

 

[fishdoc11]

I agree, trash the sand. If you do want to go with a sandbed again start with new sand.
I like barebottom as well but if you do want to go with sand going with new sand instead of reusing the old will save you a lot of headaches.
Use some "old" water from the newly setup system to restart the old setup.
hth, Chris

 

[jumpingintosalt]

Did you like the plenium? A friend of mine is doing that now I have never heard of it or done it my reef is doing fine

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Did you like the plenium? A friend of mine is doing that now I have never heard of it or done it my reef is doing fine

I never heard of a plenium either.... until this thread!

It's called a PLENUM. You might have to use the proper spelling in your searches.

 

[hounddog01]

Did you like the plenium? A friend of mine is doing that now I have never heard of it or done it my reef is doing fine

Sorry about the spelling. I have heard some have had good success with them. I personaly would not do it again. I believe it caused my tank to have red slime breakouts and it would not get the nitrates to 0. I added a fuge and that droped the nitrates to 0. At 9 years old the tank started to self destruct. Algae was out of control and everything started to brown and die. I setup a 180 and moved the corals to a frag rack in the sump and they are now starting to color up. Maybe it was just old tank syndrome and had nothing to do with the plenum but I know it needed brok down and redone.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

just to clarify

just to clarify

no need to apologize for bad spelling.
I posted the correct spelling here in this thread because a lot has been written about the proper construction of plenums.

another key word to use in searches regarding plenums would be

Jaubert

 

[gweston]

break out the wet vac- perhaps it's time to go bare bottom

For some reason that just sounds... well.. very wrong LOL.. or does it? :spin2:

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

For some reason that just sounds... well.. very wrong LOL.. or does it? :spin2:

bare bottom = BB = no substrate

BB is but one way of running a reef aquarium.

starboard (or cutting board) is often used in barebottom applications

 

[Rouselb]

I woud not remove it all at one time. Do it in sections. If you remove it all you could crash the entire system. When i removed my DSB i did it in 3-4 sections about 3-4 weeks apart. If it is currently working, why remove it?

 

[hounddog01]

I woud not remove it all at one time. Do it in sections. If you remove it all you could crash the entire system. When i removed my DSB i did it in 3-4 sections about 3-4 weeks apart. If it is currently working, why remove it?

Could not remove it in sections because it was all one peice. It was not working this is why I needed to remove it. I think it quit working because the substrate between the screens hardened. It was like taking out chunks of concrete. I took it all out and sifted thru the rest of the substrate. I need to do a couple of water changes but it is looking good so far.

 

[ingtar_shinowa]

trash the sand. I removed my sand after ripping the plenum out not because it looked gross, but because the major reason of a plenum based crash is dissolved gasses like hydrogen sulfide and others that kill everything. Better to be safe than sorry bud.

 

[hounddog01]

After removing all the glumly sand and stirring it up I did a water change about 40%. I need to get the halides on it but it is doing very nicely. Thanks to all for your suggestions.

 

[buffalo123]

I remove my plenum and went with a shallow sand bed. I was using a crush coral and sand substrate. i replace it with a finer sand. I replace the plenum because i wanted the space the plenum was using up (5 +inches of plenum and substrate. Tear down and put back up .
I think plenums work but need maintenance the first plenum i set up was up for 7 yrs before it started having problems. I believe it has to do with accumulated phosphates. Took some work to get it working again then i moved and had to take it apart .
Next tank i used a plenum again and thats was the one i tore down to go with a shallow sand bed. The shallow sand bed worked well for me but i did need some sand sifters (snails and a goby)