Substrate Question

juniormc8704

juniormc8704

New member
Currently have a brown and green LTA, and clown in a 28 gallon bowfront tank with about 15 pounds of live rock. I currently have a crushed coral substrate that is fairly coarse, and my anemone is eating great, however he will not latch on anywhere, he doesnt really move around the tank, but he appears to be unable to burrow through the crushed coral. Do i need to replace the crushed coral with live sand or a finer crushed coral? Also how would i go about doing that if neccessary. Ive read some mix the 2 together, and ive also read that take out the old put in the new. please help as i have been unable to get a educated response elsewhere

thanks in advance

P.S. i do not use an undergravel filter that would require a larger substrate, its just what i was told i "wanted" to use when i set up the tank about 6 months ago.
 
Well, the crushed coral might be your problem, or it might not. I've seen LTAs both in the sand as well as attached to rocks. You could always replace an area of your CC with either finer CC or sand, and you could also dig a hole or depression down to the glass. This would allow the LTA to attach to the glass (a hard surface), and have the sand/CC fill in around it.

FWIW,
Kevin
 
Thanks, thats kinda the direction i was headed, but how do i go about replacing the CC, do i remove it all at once, and also how would i go about adding live sand with water already in the tank? wouldnt that create a severe cloud of sand in my water harming my anemone and clown? or does it settle very quickly? Just dont want to do it wrong, i have worked really hard to keep everything in check.
 
Removing all the CC, or part, really depends upon the rest of your filtration. A CC bed can provide a significant portion of a tank's surface area for bacterial growth (depending upon total filtration), so only removing a portion at a time might be wise.

Me, I'm a worry wort, so I'd only remove about a quarter of the CC at a time. this also allows some time for any CC living critters to help populate the new, sterile sand bed, as well as time for bacterial populations to respond and populate the new sand as well. I'd do another quarter of the tank every 2-3 weeks.

As to how to get the sand to the bottom of the tank, a couple of methods come to mind. You can use a piece of 1" PVC pipe, with a funnel on top to direct the sand to the bottom of the tank (helps to have two people, one to pour the sand and one to direct the outflow). This way, the mixing and "cloud" take place inside the tube, cuttiing down on the spread of sand particles. Also, you can use a large plastic cup, 3/4 filled with sand. Let the water enter the cup slowly, thenonce filled lower the cup to the bottom of the tank and poour it out. You still get some cloudiness, but not near what you'd get if you just tried to pour a bag of sand into the tank. Oh yeah, turn off the water circulation while you put the sand into the tank to minimize blowing the particles around. But make sure you turn it back on as soon as you are done!

HTH,
Kevin
 
thanks so much, will pickup some sand and pvc today, also about how deep should i go with the sand, currently i have about 1 1/2" of CC to 2" in the deeper parts. Is that enough? Also any live sand better than another that you could off the top of your head recomend? Youve been a huge help, and have obviously saved me some huge headaches

thanks again,

Paul
 
I had no issue with my purple LTA attaching to the bottom, with my crushed coral substrate. Mine might be a finer crushed coral, but it is not all the fine by any means. I do vac mine with every weekly water change -- and my nitrate has always been zero. I've had the same substrate for over 6 years now. (even moved the tank 3 times)

Hard to see just how fine mine CC is, but here is a picture from the other day.

PLTA.jpg
 
I tried placing it in a good size pocket in the rock, and it wouldnt stay there, not sure if it fell, or if it moved intentionaly. However it landed on its side, and didnt seem interested on standing back up. all of that aside, he eats very well. Is it normal for my clown not to have hosted the anemone due to its movement? Also does my anemone appear to be healthy. Just an outside opinion would ease the nerves a little bit.

thanks,

Paul
 
it gets worse i sold it to a buddy and it outgrew his 180g in about 3 months and is now in a 400g system
 
well thats good to know, i guess ill enjoy it while i can. So do you think a LFS would take it in trade when it becomes to large for my tank?
 
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