Returning to the hobby sort of.

[fizzlefish]

Been in the hobby about 8ish years now. After me and my wife started trying for a baby I downgraded to a Biocube to keep our 5 year old clowns. Only fish I had left and changing 5 gallons every so often wasnt a big deal to me. So I thought. Fast forward almost 2 years now. Our clowns died recently after it sprung a leak in the night. I lost most of my coral when that happened after a massive algae bloom. It currently holds water but everything is covered in cyano. Some of my coral is still alive and I have crabs, snails and shrimp still. I am picking up a Nuvo 10 today and wanted to move enough sand and live rock over to it to keep the livestock alive. I know its not a ideal situation but I dont want to wake up to 10 gallons of water on my floor again. Anyway to clean the live rock off without killing it? I plan to remove as much cyano by hand as possible. Plan to run my oversized skimmer on it, run GFO, and do water changes.

 

[mcgyvr]

The first thing that always gets me in posts like this is why are you running GFO?
Its intended to be used to treat a known phosphate problem..
So far I haven't seen any indication that you have one..

Phosphate is a beneficial nutrient needed by all marine life.. Running GFO when not needed can strip the water of this beneficial element..


Now...
You are going to start with 100% new saltwater right?
There is no need to use any of the old water and I would NOT use any of your existing sand..

I personally would start with brand new dry sand (NOT live sand)..
I would then fill the tank with all new saltwater (not all the way to the top as the rock will displace more water)..
Then I would use a toothbrush,etc... to remove all of the cyano off the rocks in the old tank and then move the rocks into the new tank..
Then simply move all the inhabitants over..

 

[fizzlefish]

Yeah. I will be using new water. I can use new sand as well if you think that would be a better idea. I usually cycle tanks fully dead rock and sand. I figure there will be a phosphate problem within the first few days due to die off from the LR move.

 

[WVH]

I was also away for ten years and have returned . I see you are recommending dry sand for his new substrate. ?? Don't folks still use Aragonite as opposed to sand?

 

[Bpb]

I was also away for ten years and have returned . I see you are recommending dry sand for his new substrate. ?? Don't folks still use Aragonite as opposed to sand?

The terms are used interchangeably. When we say sand we don't necessarily mean silica grains like pool filter sand or play sand. Caribsea special grade aragonite is my favorite


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[WVH]

OK good but in the newbie section there will be people that dont know that and use silica sand instead I am sure .

 

[mcgyvr]

OK good but in the newbie section there will be people that dont know that and use silica sand instead I am sure .

Yes aragonite/calcium carbonate based sand is what you want.. Not silica based..

 

[Bpb]

OK good but in the newbie section there will be people that dont know that and use silica sand instead I am sure .

Jaded and disconnected as this may sound, the vast majority of noobs will be a combination of the following:

"œSo I've been doing a TON of research the past couple days and I'm ready to dive into my first salt tank"

"œI have extensive freshwater experience with guppies and bettas so this shouldn't be too tough"

"œI got my first tank set up" (clearly it is all hand picked by petco's finest, complete with 10 gallon tank, fluval led light, one piece of their live rock, and aqueon power filter)

"œTank is set up and cycled, why am I seeing all this ugly stuff?" And after being told you have to wait it out while the tank matures they argue "œit IS mature, it's been cycled for 2 weeks!"

And everywhere between. In short. "œSand" is the generic term I've personally used and typically read for any aquarium based substrate of a finer grain size than obvious gravel. Unfortunately, the vast majority of noobs will NOT research, will argue solid experienced advice until they're blue in the face, or just flat out quit within the first 6 months.

I'm happy to help new hobbyists, unfortunately the majority of them don't want help. They want to be told they're experts after purchasing their first fish, or be recommended a product to kill all algae overnight and yield a beautiful tank.

Salty as it may sound, I'm sure most would agree


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[scattered]

Jaded and disconnected as this may sound, the vast majority of noobs will be a combination of the following:

"œSo I've been doing a TON of research the past couple days and I'm ready to dive into my first salt tank"

"œI have extensive freshwater experience with guppies and bettas so this shouldn't be too tough"

"œI got my first tank set up" (clearly it is all hand picked by petco's finest, complete with 10 gallon tank, fluval led light, one piece of their live rock, and aqueon power filter)

"œTank is set up and cycled, why am I seeing all this ugly stuff?" And after being told you have to wait it out while the tank matures they argue "œit IS mature, it's been cycled for 2 weeks!"

And everywhere between. In short. "œSand" is the generic term I've personally used and typically read for any aquarium based substrate of a finer grain size than obvious gravel. Unfortunately, the vast majority of noobs will NOT research, will argue solid experienced advice until they're blue in the face, or just flat out quit within the first 6 months.

I'm happy to help new hobbyists, unfortunately the majority of them don't want help. They want to be told they're experts after purchasing their first fish, or be recommended a product to kill all algae overnight and yield a beautiful tank.

Salty as it may sound, I'm sure most would agree


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Along with 2 week old tanks fully stocked with verts and corals. Or cycling a tank with verts. Or the stage where every pod, worm, and snail has to be identified: "Is this bad?" when the same pictures are on roughly 1/2 the >150 pages of critter id (and indeed all on the first few pages).

I've spent a bit of time on the reef tank sub-reddit. The more things change, the more they stay the same...

I'm happy to help new hobbyists, unfortunately the majority of them don't want help. They want to be told they're experts after purchasing their first fish, or be recommended a product to kill all algae overnight and yield a beautiful tank.

 

[scattered]

The first thing that always gets me in posts like this is why are you running GFO?
Its intended to be used to treat a known phosphate problem..
So far I haven't seen any indication that you have one..

Phosphate is a beneficial nutrient needed by all marine life.. Running GFO when not needed can strip the water of this beneficial element..


Now...
You are going to start with 100% new saltwater right?
There is no need to use any of the old water and I would NOT use any of your existing sand..

I personally would start with brand new dry sand (NOT live sand)..
I would then fill the tank with all new saltwater (not all the way to the top as the rock will displace more water)..
Then I would use a toothbrush,etc... to remove all of the cyano off the rocks in the old tank and then move the rocks into the new tank..
Then simply move all the inhabitants over..

I would add a rinse bucket full of clean SW in between tank moves for the rock.

 

[Bpb]

Along with 2 week old tanks fully stocked with verts and corals. Or cycling a tank with verts. Or the stage where every pod, worm, and snail has to be identified: "Is this bad?" when the same pictures are on roughly 1/2 the >150 pages of critter id (and indeed all on the first few pages).



I've spent a bit of time on the reef tank sub-reddit. The more things change, the more they stay the same...

Oh man. I totally forgot about the 27 threads each week containing a blurry picture of a hydroid or an amphipod, usually under SOLID blue lighting as well. "œIs this bad?" Lol. I get it to a point. Sometimes it's hard to know what to search for when you can get a quick answer. But it's still funny.

You'll get a picture like this with the question "œID please?"

To which I'll normally reply...."well whatever it is, it sure is blue"


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[scattered]

Oh man. I totally forgot about the 27 threads each week containing a blurry picture of a hydroid or an amphipod, usually under SOLID blue lighting as well. "œIs this bad?" Lol. I get it to a point. Sometimes it's hard to know what to search for when you can get a quick answer. But it's still funny.

You'll get a picture like this with the question "œID please?"

To which I'll normally reply...."well whatever it is, it sure is blue"


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LOL yeah those are the ones Shoot I probably thought bristleworms were bad once upon a time too.

For what it's worth - my 'hypocrisy' exposed:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=25563755#post25563755

 

[boardsurfer]

Along with 2 week old tanks fully stocked with verts and corals.

THIS is my biggest pet peeve. I can't stand to see tons of new coral and fish thrown in a new tank at a restaurant, so bad for everything.

Or an "updated" picture of a tank with tons of coral/fish and the glass is so freaking clean because it's brand new. :hmm5::uzi: