Help removing DSB

liquidfunk · 01-17-2005, 03:00 PM

I have an 18g viaqua cube, and it has about 4-5 inches of sand in the bottom. When I originally put it together I didnt know better, and thought DSB would be great. Dont get me wrong, I still think DSB works (This is not to be a DSB discussion thread...), but especially not in a 12"x12" foot print.

I want to remove the sand, leaving only an inch or so of sand. Ive get fresh dry sand, so I dont have to worry about discolored sand in the bottom.

here is my plan......

Remove all the rock, and livestock (not much, and rock needs restructuring anyway)
drain the tank into a bucket with rock and livestock.

Remove sand, drain tank to nothing, no rock, sand water etc. This I think will reduce the risk of foul gasses being trapped in the sand.

Add 1 inch fresh sand, fill up with fresh SW, turn on sump, let flow to clear up etc.

Add back rock and livestock.

Only thing in the tank is a pair of coral banded shrimp, RBTA, hermits, snails, and some softies.

Thoughts? Am I going to create an ammonia spike? ive got about a 10g sump, so i will have lots of old water, it will be like a 60% water change. I could save some of the old water too I suppose.

I plan on adding back a couple scoops of the old sand, to repopulate the sand. There is also sand in the sump, so pod population wont be an issue.

Id appreciate some feedback before I go for it.

Illusion · 01-17-2005, 03:59 PM

WEll Removing a DSB is going to be a bit more work... I would do it Slowly that way you dont release too much of the "bad" at one time... My suggestion would be approx 1 cup per week... If you remove too much you could hit sulfur pockets Ect and wipe the entire tank out... Once you remove most if not all then dd a bit more sand in.. They say no more than 1" per week to add sand in..

James

Reefin' · 01-17-2005, 04:12 PM

i removed all my crush coral one month ago. and i didnt notice any spike at all.in fact everythings better now.but my c.c.was pretty filthy.

liquidfunk · 01-17-2005, 04:42 PM

James, I dont think you read how I am doing it. Im removing everything,,, therefor I dont care what gases are released. Im taking the tank down till its empty, then adding fresh new sand, and water, therefor there wont be any gases.

Big Dave · 01-17-2005, 04:48 PM

LFunk-

I bet you could do it like that, just make sure you have enough new salt water made up. I'd stop pulling water out about an inch from the sand, then you can pull the rest out without the worry of a CO2 release or fouling the water.

One thing I can almost guarantee will happen is a Ciano outbreak. You tank will need to get used to the change in the biological filter capabilities (your DSB gone). HTH

-Big Dave

Illusion · 01-17-2005, 04:54 PM

Ahh I missed that part LOL... Sometimes I just skip lines LOL... My bad.. I think that would work.. Just make sure you monitor the Levels for a few weeks and be prepared to do WC if needed... Thats pretty much how I did my tank Transfer and Everything went smoothly... Only lost one thing and I think that was cause I burried it in the transfer.. (its ok I didnt like it anyways) Bummer thing was I didnt have any Ammonia, nitrite, Nitrate kits anymore as I gave them away after about 3months into my 55g setup... Why test when all the Levels were 0 everytime LOL.. I ended up getting more but still dont use them.. I think they have been used 2 or 3 times LOL.. Still all 0 in all the levels..

James

Kevin1000 · 01-17-2005, 05:16 PM

Unless your sand bed is real old you might consider saving the top layer of the sand bed and using that as your new sand bed - the beneficial bacteria and critters in the top layer of the old sand bed will help mitigate any bilogical issue associated with replacing a sand bed.

liquidfunk · 01-17-2005, 06:34 PM

Thanks guys,,, Ive actually finished it up, it looks so much better SHEESH!! Not just because of the DSB, but I had rock to close to the sides, and I wasnt able to get everywhere to clean off the algae. It was just very cluttered.

I did use fresh sand, I didnt want to mess with dealing with the exhisting sand issues. I do however have lots in the fuge, as well as in my big system, so a couple cup fulls should be all I need to get it rock again.

Thanks for the help, Ill post some photos once the fog goes away.

joel

mhudzinski · 01-17-2005, 07:26 PM

That's pretty much exactly how I removed the sand from my tank this weekend. A little bit tougher with a 60g system that included adding in a 1500gph closed loop, but still doable in 1 day. Everything is doing well 3 days later, so I'm assuming it worked out.

liquidfunk · 01-17-2005, 08:05 PM

Above is before the change, although you can hardly see all the nasty sand in the bottom.

Below is the after the change, after removing sand, and redoing rock work.

jayo · 01-18-2005, 12:11 AM

I drained my 300 today to do the same thing... I'm not done yet though. Oof! Hopefully I can get it refilled tomorrow and running. My fish are less-than-happy campers.

Yours looks great! I hope my redo turns out as well.

jayo

Illusion · 01-18-2005, 12:14 AM

**** you people are making me want to Drain my Tank and put in my Closed Loop. I have Several 1.5" Bulkheads LOL... Hmm... Making me think... Should I try it...

James

wanareef · 01-18-2005, 02:31 AM

James

Bit the bullet and do it - you could always use more flow in that tank of yours.

Joel - look's much better than it did when I was there. That's the best way to go - complete tear down.