Vacuum Sand Bed??

tainte97 · 08-14-2005, 03:41 PM

Ok Im really confused about my sandbed. I just joined TRT and have been reading alot of post on this subject. My tank has beed established for over a year. Its a 55 FOWLR with a Medium Size lion and a Spinny Box Puffer Fish, 2 CC starfish, a green and a red brittle star, 2 sally light foots, 2 turbo snails, and a small horseshoe crab. I was told not to vacuum my sandbed which is about 2 inches deep. I have had high nitrates for over a year now 50+. I feed the lion about 10 frozen silver sides ever 2-3 days and the puffer frozen krill every other day. And the stars get a half silver side 2 times a week. I do between 5-15 gallon water changes weekly, have a emperiour 400 and 330 filters with bio-wheels and a UV sterilizer. Any thought on vacuuming the sand bed or stirring it to help lower the trates?? Any thoughts would be great.

markak15 · 08-14-2005, 04:11 PM

how much LR do you have?

motorslave · 08-14-2005, 04:19 PM

Get a skimmer! A good one. The fish you have are messy eaters and create alot of detritus. The filters you have with bio-wheels can be nitrate factories. If you have LR and a skimmer then the LR will provide the viological filtration and the skimmer will remove the disolved solids. LR should be generaly around.75 to 1.5 lbs pre gallon. I have always had BB tanks so dont know alot about sand beds but I do know that past a certain depth you dont want to disturb as there is a type of bacteria down there that will poison the water.

Robert

tainte97 · 08-14-2005, 04:52 PM

Thanks Robert, I have about 25 lbs of live rock. I really dont have the money do buy more. I have another 30lbs or so of rock I got at the local beach in about 10 ft of water which I've had in a QT tank for a week or so, but Im not really sure if this rock will help with the filteration? I had a skimmer hooked up for a month or so and it didnt seem to do anything so I disconnected it.

motorslave · 08-14-2005, 05:31 PM

The rock will help as long as it doesnt have any pollutants in it. It will provide a homew for the bacteria that perform the filtration. I would hook the skimmer back up. What type was it? It may have not been tuned in right. A skimmer realy is a very important part of your suystem, If it was a cheap one you might want to check the think tank and look at some of the DIY skimmers people are using. They are having realy good results with some of these home made ones. I cant stress enogh about the skimmer issue.
Also, you can find some base rock and add that. The Live rock you have will seed the base rock. You dont have to have all high dollar live rock.

Robert

tainte97 · 08-14-2005, 05:35 PM

I have a piece of crap Jebo 180. I had it on the tank for over a month and got a 1/10th of the cup of skim that was a tea looking color. I adjusted it everyday and nothing, just water and salt loss. Do you guys think if the rock has been in the qt tank for over a week and nothing spiked in the water its ok to add as base rock? Or let it sit longer in the QT

motorslave · 08-14-2005, 05:39 PM

The thing that makes me nervous about rock taken near our populated shores is the stuff you cant test for, not a cycle. With the amount of crap that humans create and throw away, I dont want anything from a shore line in my tank. These are just my feelings. Base rock can be gotten from Reefbones or hirocks.com. Its old dried our rock. Some people even make rock.
As for the skimmer, if funds are a rewal issue I would seriously consider doing a Do It Yourself unit. This will be key to your tank being happy.

Robert

tainte97 · 08-14-2005, 05:41 PM

Thanks for the help Robert

motorslave · 08-14-2005, 05:57 PM

Sure! Keep us posted on changes and progress!

Robert

Loverotties · 08-14-2005, 07:23 PM

You need more rock and get rid of the bio wheel and need a good skimmer cause you have to feed silversides to your lion adds alot of trates and phosphates!.

reef_noob · 08-14-2005, 08:31 PM

A 2" sand bed is not enough to create an anoxic layer, your sand bed is probably a nitrate sink by this point. I'd start vacuuming it section by section with each water change, you are doing regular water changes right?

tims · 08-14-2005, 08:48 PM

i agree with the skimmer, the addtional live rock and cleaning your sand bed. you might think about adding more sand to it , increasing the depth to 4 inches or so. it is possible since it was never really cleaned for a year, that you mat have to replace the whole thing a lttle at a time. the bio wheels adn the amount of live/ frozen food you are feeding is keeping the nitrates way high..

BigDaddy · 08-14-2005, 09:15 PM

I would take the biowheels out; I wouldn't stir the sandbed but I would start removing it... there is some really rancid stuff in the sand. Every week I would vacuum some more out. Make sure you are blasting your rock as you vacuum the sand to get the detrius out... and keep that skimmer skimming

Your other option is to take all the livestock out and completely remove and replace the sand in one swoop.