my tank

[spongebob lover]

well i always throw my water with sand in the sink ... you can hear the crunching going.
ohhh you wanna know what my kid threw down the toilet? his baby tooth brush that why the toilet was cloged for 2 weeks .... kids .

 

[mungus]

Great to see you started a thread on your tank gaby. Looks like you have some work ahead of you. I hope the remodeling goes well.

Brian

 

[spongebob lover]

Great to see you started a thread on your tank gaby. Looks like you have some work ahead of you. I hope the remodeling goes well.

Thank you dood, right now i'm making the water to get it ready for that big water change that i'm gonna be doing.
My beloved coral is one foot outside of the tank .. i can't believe this quick , but yeah i hope the water change, the brushing and well we'll see if i can do that bb help so everything can be back to the way it was before.

 

[liveforphysics]

Whoa, I would definately NOT pull your sand out with your setup. IMO, thats going to result in the death variety pack extravganza. Your tank will be totally thrown into start-up type cycleing again, and this time, the bacteria isnt going to have the luxury of massive surface area and varied flow rates and varying ammonia and o2 levels to quickly create nitch strongholds to keep your nitrogen cycle together. You also will likely find that you have inadquate rock surface area to support much if any useful NNR without your sand bed in the tank.

If you really wana get rid of your sand (even though its not the problem at all and provides many good bennifits), you need to take it out 1-2handfuls per week, NOT just remodel and pull it all out. Remember, that sand in your tank right now is responsible for about 85% (rough guess) of all the filtration that occurs in your tank right now.

But seriously, try some cheato before you go nuts here. I personally think it would be much cooler to JUST add the cheato and a light on your sump, and NOT change any water or mechanically remove any algae. Then take update pics of your tank every week, and we could all get to watch the effects of cheato on your water quality and algae. If after just one week you dont like it, then you can go back to doing whatever.

It would REALLY be an awsome thing to watch the improvements weekly, and shoot, if it hurts your tank in anyway, I will totally restock your tank for you with anything you want(provided its within reason) for free.

Your fish and other things will really thank you for it.

 

[spongebob lover]

hey Luke that offer sounds tempting and trust me, i love my sand.
I think i will do the bb and if it doesn't work i can always throw my sand back hehe.
I will add the Chaeto... just give me sometime dood, unless you wanna teach me how to drive for free and i'm slow so it can take a long time :lol: .... just joking.
But i will do it dood.

 

[liveforphysics]

hmm... You're scareing me here Gabby. Tell me you know that you cant simply remove your sand and expect your tank to handle that. For somebody that is afraid to shut there skimmer off, you should REALLY be afraid to pull your sand out. If you wana go BB in your setup, I would guess your very minimum safe transition time would be a month, and then after that, your pH buffering, Ca levels, thermal stability, ammonia stability and many other things are going to be seriously lowered. This means your tank wont tolerate mistakes at all anymore, so you gotta be very very careful. I just dont want your tank to crash from trying BB.

I have a guy comming by tonight from everet to pickup some cheato. I'm going to ask him if he will drop you off a nice big mat of cheato on his way back home since it appears it would only be about 5-10miles out of the way, and he is allready getting super hooked-up on free cheato, so he should be in the helping spirit .

If you dont have a bulb for your sump, and no way to get to home depot for one, I will even send 1-2 with him to deliver to you. If you dont have sockets, I will even send those with him too, but let me know soon so I can run to the store and pick some up.

 

[spongebob lover]

Thanks Luke.
you're a nice guy but can i just wait for a little because i wouldn't have anything for it and i don't think it'll be fair for the guy to be driving around.
how about if you give me a week and i can pick it up myself.

 

[Krish]

Well, as most all of us know, I went bb twice(LOL) I pulled it out slowly over time (a little bit each week) until there was none. The next day or 2 later, all went back in because my wife wanted it in. A few weeks later, I said screw it and pulled all of my sand out one shot(LOL) I wouldn't suggest doing it that way if you have a somewhat deep sand bed, but IMO with the ssb I had, I couldn't see my system relying on it that much to cause a problem and so I pulled it all out one time and I was right. Tank did fine...If you go bb Gabby ever, do it over time if your sand bed is somewhat deep. I had a 1 inch sandbed, so that's why I did it the way I did.

 

[liveforphysics]

Gabby, I will get you 2 of these little outdoor flood lamp sockets. All you need to do is have 2 plug-ins available, screw the bulbs into them, plug them in, Toss the cheato in the sump, and aim them so its shining on the cheato in the sump. Thats the entire deal, and I will give you everything you need, even a powerstrip if you dont have 2 empty plug ins.

I have allready asked this guy, and he seems quite nice, so if he says yes, just PM me your adress and you will be good to go. It will save you all sorts of work, and you will never enjoy your tank more than when its algae free with kick ass water quality and little to no maintence or equipment.

 

[spongebob lover]

Thank you very much Luke.
I don't have plug- ins either dood and seriously it will make me feel very bad to just get everything from the dood who's just driving to get some for himself.
I'll pm you to see if you're free this weekend so i can pick it ok.

 

[jesshimom]

Well when I switched to BB I had no cycle and I have no refugium. I used the same water and rocks which is what Gab will do so why would she have a big cycle. I've changed three different tanks to BB and never had a cycle again. My tanks have never been cleaner.

 

[spongebob lover]

well after thinking how i'm gonna change to bb.
It's gonna have to wait a little just because i don't have another tank to put my fishes in there and the rest of the water .
my sand bed is not that deep is about less than an inch .

 

[jesshimom]

No pressure Gab! I am very close and have all the where with all to move things (bins/cans), so when you decide you're ready I'm happy to come help. It shouldn't take that long. If you want to keep your sand, that's fine too I can still come help you really get it cleaned up!

 

[Vicki]

No pressure Gab! I am very close and have all the where with all to move things (bins/cans), so when you decide you're ready I'm happy to come help. It shouldn't take that long. If you want to keep your sand, that's fine too I can still come help you really get it cleaned up!

This could be called "Extreme MakeOver, Reef Edition". Maybe we could even get some camera crews there.

I'd like to help out too whenever you're ready Gabby.

Vicki

 

[spongebob lover]

Thank you very much Colleen .
The water change, i'm gonna be doing it on sunday so you're always welcome to come and i can make some cinammon buns or cake and some coffee or hot chocolate and there's always the x box for the kids ... or movies .
yeah i think i will siphon some sand, but the whole putting the cutting board and taking the sand completely is gonna take time, i'll be getting the cutting board and the silicone this weekend i hope, but yeah i'm sure i'm gonna need more buckets for all my water .

This could be called "Extreme MakeOver, Reef Edition". Maybe we could even get some camera crews there.

I'd like to help out too whenever you're ready Gabby.

lol !!! i guess i'm gonna be needing paper tissue in that case.

 

[Krish]

I'm with you Colleen...Never had a "cycle" after going BB. I think your tank is going to look really nice after Gabby...bb or not. You should send me some pictures of all of your rocks so I can aquascape for you

 

[spongebob lover]

I'm with you Colleen...Never had a "cycle" after going BB. I think your tank is going to look really nice after Gabby...bb or not. You should send me some pictures of all of your rocks so I can aquascape for you

really ??? yuuhhuu !!! .
just make sure you don't go perfect on it :lol:

 

[mattseattle]

I also removed my 6" DSB and did not have a cycle. It was on my 60 gallon tank. I just re-used the old water and basted the rocks while they were out of the tank.

Gaby - do what you want to do and don't let some of these people pressure you!

It's so much easier to do maintenace on a BB tank.

 

[spongebob lover]

Thank you Matt, what does Sophie says BB or SSB ? . you still haven't post more pictures of her.
Well i'll see when the time comes i think i'll do bb and if i don't like it, i'll go back to my beloved sand , but first i wanna try.

 

[mattseattle]

hehhe...

i'll PM you with some new pictures.