160 gal circulation probs and more

[craigy boy]

hi everyone, so many questions, but you guys always seem to know the answers..
i have a fine aragonite sandbed and its always brown where the light is exposed to it and constantly producing air bubbles, it just looks so ugly having a dirty sandbed, the tank is about 1yr old, its 6ft and 160 gallons. how do i cure this?

question 2....
i have a wier of 9" in the left back corner, the inlet of clean water is also at the same end of the tank but halfway down, with a powerhead at the opposite end of the tank near the surface to direct waterflow towards the wier.. is this reccomended? or should i make my inlet water at the opposite end of the wier? need loads of advice on circulation..

and finally question 3....
all water from the tank enters a sump of 4ft, which goes through a protein skimmer (reefmaster) then overflows onto a filtration cloth (the name escapes me) which drops onto my bio balls and then back to the tank....the filtration cloth is cleaned every 2-3 days and i was wondering if this is enough filtration...(there is enough live rock in there to build the barrier reef, and still have spare...lol)
im now at the stage where i can add my corals so what do i need to be altering in this setup?
thanks for reading............craig

[oregon_gorge]

Hi Craig!

Our sand was the same way until we got a Blue Lobster. He constatnly cleaned the sand. Too well. He gleaned out all the critters and we got rid of him.

Now we have an 8' 240g tank. We have 2 cucumbers, one Black and one Tiger Tail. They did pretty well, but now we have a Diamond Goby and our sand is always clean and we have tons of pods and even baby peppermint shrimp. So, I dont think they are hurting. Oh, we have a Mandarin as well as a Flame Angel and Potters Angel and still have a great population.

Live rock is supposed to be the only filter you need. Bio balls have gone the way of the horse and buggy here. I am however going to start using a sock (from the LFS) to catch particles. For some reason, my tank is always full of little bits of stuff and it drives me nuts.

I will let someone else take over. I dont use powerheads anymore. I have a large pump in the sump for return in four lines and the return is also split off to run the skimmer.

HTH

Chris

[Cali Kid]

Originally posted by craigy boy
hi everyone, so many questions, but you guys always seem to know the answers..
i have a fine aragonite sandbed and its always brown where the light is exposed to it and constantly producing air bubbles, it just looks so ugly having a dirty sandbed, the tank is about 1yr old, its 6ft and 160 gallons. how do i cure this?

Have you added any type of clean-up crew?
What type of make-up water are you using? (RO/DI?)



question 2....
i have a wier of 9" in the left back corner, the inlet of clean water is also at the same end of the tank but halfway down, with a powerhead at the opposite end of the tank near the surface to direct waterflow towards the wier.. is this reccomended? or should i make my inlet water at the opposite end of the wier? need loads of advice on circulation..

not sure what a wier is?? maybe you could take a pic. You may want to look into a closed loop system for additional circulation and do away with the powerheads. you might want to look into a Tunze Turbelle ® Stream. I've heard some good things about these units.
http://www.marinedepot.com/a_ph_tunzestream.asp?CartId=

and finally question 3....
all water from the tank enters a sump of 4ft, which goes through a protein skimmer (reefmaster) then overflows onto a filtration cloth (the name escapes me) which drops onto my bio balls and then back to the tank....the filtration cloth is cleaned every 2-3 days and i was wondering if this is enough filtration...(there is enough live rock in there to build the barrier reef, and still have spare...lol)
im now at the stage where i can add my corals so what do i need to be altering in this setup?

a lot of people have moved away from the wet/dry filtration because of the nitrate build-up and converted over to a sump/refugium. This set-up will have live sand, live rock, and microalgae.
thanks for reading............craig

[craigy boy]

thankyou oregon and cali kid............

unfortunately over here in the uk things are a little different and it seems you guys are alot more advanced in the keeping of reefs...i will take advice on the goby and get one....as for the weir i meant an overflow box in the corner, (sorry bad terminology).
never heard of a closed loop system and my lfs have never mentioned one to me.... i will look into the practicalities of adapting.

thanks again guys......craig

[Jimbo]

Hi cucumbers are great additions to keeping the sand bed clean. You might consider removing the bioballs over a period of time if you have about 1 to 2 lbs of LR per gallon (it will be your filtration). Change your filter material often so it does not become a nutrient sink. You may not need it at all. Fighting conches are great I have 2 in my 40g and they keep the sand nice and clean on the surface.