Yet another Diamond Goby sandstorm thread

[SquidwardTentacles]

I moved sand (ten-year old live & Southdown) from my old 125 to my new 28 nano. Added a small diamond goby that does an outstanding job cleaning the sand. Of course, the silty particles in the sand get thrown into the water column as soon as he gets to work. I added an Aquaclear water polisher (temporary) this weekend to help get the tiny particles out (faster than just the mechanical in the overflow).

I know it will eventually clear up but...

Has anyone ever tried speeding the process up by manually stirring up the sand and getting it done faster?

I probably won't do this due to the creed but was looking for advice.

No skimmer / frequent 5g water changes. Mechanical/Purigen/Chaeto. Supplemental carbon (for now).

 

[josepha]

How did you move the sand? I would just be patient, if you do stir it up, I would do small sections at a time. Being how old the sand is it may still have some sulfur or high ammonia pockets in it which could be dangerous especially without a skimmer.

 

[SquidwardTentacles]

How did you move the sand? I would just be patient, if you do stir it up, I would do small sections at a time. Being how old the sand is it may still have some sulfur or high ammonia pockets in it which could be dangerous especially without a skimmer.

I scooped it into the new dry nano, moved the rock, and used 50% old water and 50% new. Moved two fish from old tank. Have added a Royal Gramma & two Firefish and, of course, the Diamond. I had zero ammo spikes but see your point. I may have gotten lucky on that. All are doing well and in a month have sprouted a couple new heads. All water checks are spot on (amazing how much easier it is to do 5-gallon changes vs. 30-gallon changes on the 125).

Once Diamond dive bombs under his rock at 8:21 PM each night (not an exaggeration/no idea how he tells time in his world), the water clears up perfect. He does a great job cleaning the sand to bleached-white color so I think he is doing enough stirring and I'll just be patient. I'll get the 1 micron stuff out eventually through mechanical.

Thanks for the input.