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Post by herefishyfishy on May 16, 2017 20:56:07 GMT -5
I need to clean up my tank and reconfigure. I typically try to do toops much too fast...so I'm trying to avoid doing that (and subsequently crashing my tank). Do you think it would be ok to rile up the crushed coral in half the tank and give the rocks a good scrub on weds and then do a good water change on Saturday? Or is that too much? I have a 90 gallon tank with a canister which until the other day was empty but I put stuff in it in anticipation of doing a cleaning. I have about 1.5 to 2 inches of crushed coral (which I habe contemplated taking out and or at least reducing to half inch at the most...thoughtso on that also welcome) so, whatcha think?
I am ready to get a sump up and running but that's on the hubby to get in gear.
Input???
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Post by ryansweatt2004 on May 17, 2017 5:51:05 GMT -5
Don't do it, if anything use a gravel vacuum and siphon out any of the crud in the crushed coral during a water change so that you don't cause an ammonia spike which can havethe possibilities of killing all your fish and inverts. Not to mention it can release phosphates and nitrates back into the water. Directly siphoning out the crud and not letting it get stirred up in the aquarium water avoids this possibility. Just make sure you have enough premixed saltwater made up to do the water change after. It's also not a bad idea to have some good activated carbon ready to use in a mesh bag as well just to be safe.
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Post by herefishyfishy on May 17, 2017 7:35:58 GMT -5
Perfect. I think I will remove all of the rocks and scrub them up, gravel vac the whole bottom (i have a bunch of crevices that haven't been vac'd in my normal water change routing) as a part of the water change then re arrange the rocks as I put them back in. Still trying to get the nitrates down, so its time to give this a little more love. Now that the RO system is up and running AND the water change process is much easier (siphon gravel vac directly to a drain and a pump directly to the tank from the RO water storage) I can do it more often, I know that is part of the answer but I also know that the canister is part of the problem (even empty it collects crap) and also the crushed coral, although more water changes and siphoning more will help. Need a bigger clean up crew that my snowflake eel and puffer won't eat. Thoughts in general? Ryan, you are the master of all things saltwater!! : )
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Post by nickidml on May 17, 2017 9:40:04 GMT -5
I'm gunna have to say the crushed coral bed is you biggest nitrate factory. Crud you can't get out gets trapped in there and converted to nitrate. If you really want to help your nitrate problem I'd say opt for removing that substrate before a sump. Even with a sump it I doubt you'll see a reduction until you get rid of the crushed coral. I run mine with a canister filter but I have about 6" fine deep sand bed, my water changes are sub-par, I probably don't clean out the filter as much as I should, and my nitrates are barely detectable.
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Post by herefishyfishy on May 17, 2017 9:49:15 GMT -5
Nicki, I have thought about taking it out completely, but don't love the thought of bare bottom, my fish really like to move the coral around (and I like watching them do it) and can't afford deep sand bed right now. So I guess I am stuck with it. I definitely have thought about removing it a little at a time until I get down to a much smaller amount (around 1/4 to 1/2 inch but I am not sure if that is better or worse)
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Post by nickidml on May 17, 2017 9:57:39 GMT -5
I certainly enjoy watching my creatures move around my sand as well! I don't know for sure but I'm going to make the assumption that the less crushed coral you have, the better since there would be less cracks for stuff to get trapped in. Also, another thing to consider would be a refugium to grow cheato. Even without a sump you could try the hang on type.
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