About to move, substrate?

[josh88]

Ok I'm about to move into a new place, so I have to move the live rock and cleanup crew into bucks, and set the new saltwater up in a bucket. I think I'm going to get a trash can for this lol. Now my ? Is should I get new sand for the tank, or can I transfer the old sand to? If I have to get new sand can anyone make some suggestions, I'm not going to use the carib black-and-white sand way to big. When the finer grain shifted to The bottom it left pebbles on the top

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[Airphotog]

Remove the top inch or so and discard or clean the rest. You don't want to use the middle and bottom part because of the anarobic layer will do bad things to your system. I think depending on how much you are talking about if you put the discarded sand in a bucket and rinsed it real well until all the detritus is gone you could probably reuse it.

 

[josh88]

And would it be bad if I just used new sand. Been thinking about using white or pink Fiji,

HTC EVO

 

[Airphotog]

How big is your system and what have you got for livestock, rock and sump/refugium?

 

[josh88]

It's a 28 gal jbj hqi, its a shallow sand bed, about 2 inches, I have about 25 lbs of live rock. Emerald crab, 2 turbo, 4 hermit, 8 cerith or Nassarius not sure

HTC EVO

 

[Airphotog]

If you can transfer your rock to the same temp and salinity water quickly and be quick about the removal and replacement of the sand you should be fine. Just make sure you have a good batch of water ready to go.

 

[josh88]

Cool, yeah It's only like a minute walking lol

HTC EVO

 

[N1Husker]

I'm thinking of doing a bare bottom tank when I move in June. Any thoughts?

 

[josh88]

Yeah I already have bare bottom 10 gal nano. Lol

HTC EVO

 

[N1Husker]

I saw the bare bottom display tanks at Saltwater City in Bellevue and I like all the coraline on the glass and Andy told me that they are easier to clean and will not harbor the phosphates and nitrates as the tank ages. The corals don't seem to care thet just attach right on.

 

[josh88]

Oh really, I didn't even know you could attach them just to The tank, how could you do it. And yes I've cleaned the bottom, I even made my own syphon just for getting more debrie, And less coralline algae that's started growing on the bottom

HTC EVO

 

[N1Husker]

It all depends on the coral type, like mushrooms and pulsing xenia will and there are others but not all, but they will attach to the live rock. Heck I was down at a fish store and they had an anemone attached to the inside of the bell of a jellyfish. I don't think that they are too picky, but some are very finicky. You never know.

 

[josh88]

Well that just opens up a whole new spectrum to keeping coral in my tank. I'm beginning to see things in a cube dimension, instead of this 2D square. Thanks man

HTC EVO

 

[N1Husker]

I was told that as a tank ages the substrate will harbor the nitrates and phosphates and the tank bottom gets the coraline all over it and some of the corals will attach themselves. You also can put the live rock on the botom with coral on it. Anyway I am going to try it. Also without substrate it won't collect all of the fish poop.

 

[colin779]

I'm a believer in bare bottom tanks now, i changed my 90 over and probably won't ever put sand in another tank, It looks nice and is way less maintenance =)

 

[hellotreetops]

+1 vote for BB. I miss the visual of sand, but that thought quickly disappears when I see people's tank with junk all over the sand. Sand is only great when it is clean and pretty! And it is a bitch to keep clean. I do not miss siphoning my sand at all.

 

[josh88]

But does bb cut out what kind of live stock you can but in the tank

HTC EVO

 

[N1Husker]

I think it probably cuts out any sand sifting type fish but I am not sure,might be a good question for LeeB.

 

[colin779]

I would guess some types of wrasses wouldn't care for it, and like mentioned above sand sifting fish like gobies, possibly some snails. I haven't seen any adverse effects with any of my livestock since losing the sand a few months back.

 

[SWCC]

And would it be bad if I just used new sand. Been thinking about using white or pink Fiji,

HTC EVO

I used pink Fiji in my biocube....never again...the tank is barebottom now. Problem with fiji is it gets everywhere. Too fine of a sand IMO. Also very hard to vacuum. I'm bare bottom right now...IMO stick with a sand you can vacuum and does not blow everywhere with the tank's flow. Bare bottom is great for being able to see detritus collect and get it out of the tank. Substrate will hide the detritus more, but if you can vacuum the substrate easily, you can take advantage of getting detritus out without the sand coming with it. Do not leave the substrate alone to collect and collect no matter what decision you make. If you go with fine sand, vacuum and plan on replacing sand often as it gets sucked out.