sand question

[piranhaking]

Im working on a 75 gallon saltwater aquarium for my school. THe tank currently has about 2 or 3 inches of crushed coral substrate( i know its a terrible choice, but it was there when i started working on the tank.) Since were on a limited budget they wont let me completely redo the whole sand bed with sugar fine sand, but they did ok me to buy 60 lbs (dry weight). My question is would i be better off to just add the sugar sand to the top of what is there, or to remove some of the crushed coral that is currently in there?

 

[bertoni]

I would remove all the crushed coral. Otherwise, you're just burying a lot of organic debris that will rot, and then the CC will work its way to the top over time.

 

[dlish89]

I would agree with bertoni.

 

[dlish89]

Where are you located ? I have some sand I will give you for the school.

 

[piranhaking]

thanks for the offer, but im in Tennessee.

 

[dlish89]

Oh well, good luck on your project.

 

[crpeck]

Where in Tennessee? There are active reef clubs all through TN. Maybe we could help.

Cathy

 

[piranhaking]

Cookeville.

 

[Fast Fred]

Consider going bare bottom?

 

[Red Serpent]

You should save and use some crush to reseed the new sand. When you remove the crush coral save some of it and rinse it out with salt water to remove as much junk as possible. Then put it into clean womans nylons cut into around 8" lenghts and tied both ends. Spread these bags of crushed coral back around the tanks bottem. Cover them with the new sand after you have added some salt water back into tank. Make sure to do a finnal rise on the new sand with salt water.(so the fresh water does not kill bacteria in your old crush coral) This will help your tank because you did not remove as much of the bio filter. Then in about 3 weeks remove 1 or 2 bags a week untill they are all out. I did this to my tank and it worked very well.(had no large spikes in my water levels)

 

[crpeck]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6556050#post6556050 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by piranhaking
Cookeville.

Anything east of Nashville is east TN to me. On the RC Discussion forum page, below the sponsor forums is "other forums". Look in the reef club forums and you will see both a Mid Tennessee and an East Tennessee Reef Club. You should be able to find reefers close to you. Club members and/or sponsors may be willing to help you out since you're doing the tank for your school.

The sand is just the beginning. Once you adopt a tank, you'll keep thinking of all kinds of things to add or do. The reef club in your area can really help you get discounts at vendors, coral frag trades or give aways, and just a local source of shared knowledge and support.

Good Luck!
Cathy

 

[piranhaking]

thanks everyone, i think i have talked him into getting 90 lbs of sand now, another problem im having is the other person working on the tank doesnt see some things the way i do and we are having some disagrements about a few things about the tank. She was working on the tank before i was, but i dont think she did the research i have. I put a post up about the details of the issues here . Any help would be apreciated. Links to articles is what i really need though, because a post or two agreeing with or disagreeing with the views i mention in there wont really help me much because they wouldnt carry as much weight with someone already in doubt. thanks ahead of time everybody.

 

[piranhaking]

i think that if we added enough water current and good enough skimmer to go bare bottom we could do the sand several times over. I had that idea, but i think that would be to expensive and option. Thanks for the idea though.

 

[bertoni]

One thought to keep in mind is that there are a lot of ways to run a successful tank. There's a member here (PaulB) who has a 30-year-old reef tank with a reverse-flow UGF, and no measureable nitrate problem. He does have sponge prefilters, too, but really, the point is that it can work.

As far as plenums go, I would avoid one. I think a thin sand layer is much easier to maintain, and looks better.

The main problem with the coarser substrates is that they accumulate debris in the areas between the chunks, which can lead to nitrate problems. I don't think you're going to get much of an in-depth explanation on a rather mundane point like that. I did write some notes on substrate choices that are here in the NTTH forum.

 

[piranhaking]

i considered the reverse flow with a prefilter like that. Does he have many fish in the tank or mainly just inverts? Part of the reason i want to do a plenum is that the tank has a sizeable fish load and im sure they will want to add to near the limits of what can be kept, and there is no sump no refugeum so there is no nitrate removal unless i add a plenum or dsb. I would do a sump, but again the budget is an issue. thanks for the help.

 

[bertoni]

I thought he had a sizeable fish load. Undergravel filters are actually pretty amazing in the amount of ammonia they can handle.

 

[piranhaking]

what did he have for nitrate removal? a remote dsb in a refuguem or macro in a refuguem or anything like that or just alot of water changes?

 

[bertoni]

I think he had a sizeable load of live rock and a slow-flow UGF. Maybe some macroalgae somewhere. Hmm, don't know the specifics.

 

[piranhaking]

well the tank im dealing with has very little live rock (10-15 lbs in a 75 gallon) and some base rock that has been in there for a month or two, so probably isnt seeded yet. Still no where near enough rock yet though. I would say that having a slow flow would help prevent anything from making it past the prefilters. also what size substrate? crushed coral? sugar sand?

 

[bertoni]

I forget the precise size, but sand won't work with an UGF. It's on the order of chunky crushed coral.