[Tethered_Limbs]

im thinking about taking all the lr out of my tank for an hour or so to clean my cc bed, it a deep cc bed which i know is a no no, but i bought this tank off a guy so it wasnt my decision. ive got alot of diatom in my tank, im not sure if its because i dont have enough flow or what. my lr is leaning against the back of my tank which isnt helping my flow problems at all so at the very least my lr has to be moved. how would you guys suggest going about this or shud i just not do it.

 

[jenglish]

If the LR is going to be out of the tank very long you may consider making SW to sit it in like in a rubbermaid tub. You may think about using a turkey baster to blast out the rocks while they are still in the tank. You may be surprised what all is in there. ANother thing to consider is adding a rock lift to keep the rock off the substrate. If rock has to be piled against the back glass you may have more rock than you need.

I would do a big waterchange while you do this.

If it were me.... I might be tempted to just suck the CC out and replace with sand or go barebottom and be done with the CC.

 

[Tethered_Limbs]

what kind of rock lift? ive been looking into it and i dont really want to drill my rock. i was definately gunna blast my rock with a powerhead b4 i put them back in the dt, probally put a cuppe decent sized rocks in the sump. would it shock the system if i cleaned all the rocks and removed the cc, i would think alot of the bacteria would be gone

 

[ebross67]

It will definitely cycle again. It depends on your current bioload how drastic the cycle will be. Because it is cc you may be safe. If it was a deep fine sand bed I would recommend slowly taking the bed out (over a 2-4 week period). To be safe try taking a little out each day untill it's completely gone (1-2 weeks).

 

[Tethered_Limbs]

i got a pair of ocellaris a yellow tang and a 3 spot domino. i have a bubble coral as well as a couple shrimp and a bunch of hermits and snails. the guy i bought it off of said it was over 100 lb of live rock so that should help keep the tank stable right?

 

[FutureDoc]

This is how I do it. http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f267/tank-tear-down-145368.html

I tear things down fairly often. I have also taken out my substrate out many times and added/did not add new still. I personally like bb tanks now, but it is just personal taste. I keep LR in the sump to help prevent cycles and keep all other rocks submerged at all times. I hope this is helpful.

 

[Tethered_Limbs]

if i was to go bb wat would i need to do to the rock so it doesnt scratch or break the bottom of the tank, and to just get it where i want

 

[jenglish]

A falling rock can break glass... though I don't know how likely it is. Many people use starboard (like a cutting board) to prevent this. Here is a pic of my rock lift (so I could have sand but not let the rock touch it)

There is a DIY thread on making rock lifts.

 

[Loverotties]

If the LR is going to be out of the tank very long you may consider making SW to sit it in like in a rubbermaid tub. You may think about using a turkey baster to blast out the rocks while they are still in the tank. You may be surprised what all is in there. ANother thing to consider is adding a rock lift to keep the rock off the substrate. If rock has to be piled against the back glass you may have more rock than you need.

I would do a big waterchange while you do this.

If it were me.... I might be tempted to just suck the CC out and replace with sand or go barebottom and be done with the CC.

+1.

 

[Dave's Not Here]

I love the rock lift!!

 

[FutureDoc]

Mine rests on a sheet of acrylic and my rockwork is "bonded together" with PVC pipes/rods working as a skeleton/pegs through the rock and gorilla glue filling out any space between the PVC and rock. You can see a small part of the support rods in the pic

Look above the yellow tang, there is a frag (rose milli) and above that is a little yellow area, tat is some visible glue and part of the "spine", a PVC pipe, about a 1/4 inch thick running top to bottom of that pillar of rock.

jenglish's rock rack/lift is a great system, I had something similar, just no where near as nice back in the day.

 

[Loverotties]

Very nice!

 

[Tethered_Limbs]

so bb is the way to go?

 

[FutureDoc]

It depends, BB is the way to go if you have a loft of flow to keep organic fluidized so the the skimmer can remove it. BB can also be used if you want vacuum out the detritus easily from dead areas. Sand, to some, looks better andserves as a habitat for many critters. It personal choice for manybut I like a BB for less areato trap organics.

 

[jenglish]

BB is simpler IMO, but I could not stand to look at one in a display. Looks are a matter of opinion. A poorly maintained BB will look worse than a poorly maintained DSB for instance... but in a certain way the DSB is only storing those nutreints. Out of sight out of mind can be a problem. THere are +s and -s to any set up.

 

[Tethered_Limbs]

yea i dont like the look of glass in the reef either. instead of a dsb would a shallow 1 still harbor all the bad nutrients

 

[jenglish]

There are two things I consider with sand. THe holding and hiding of detritus and the binding of phosphate. Once phosphate is bound there is little that can be done to remove it from sand. But detritus can be siphoned out regularly and can be relatively little problem. It can take years for sand to bind up so much PO4 that it is released depending on your maintenance. If you keep your system pretty clean it really improves the success of substrate.

 

[Tethered_Limbs]

ok i keep it pretty clean, at least weekly water changes and all that.

thanks for all the advice

 

[Tethered_Limbs]

how long can lr stay live in a bucket?

 

[jenglish]

how long can lr stay live in a bucket?

Depends what on it is "live" If we are just talking bacteria... somewhere between months and forever :thumbup:

Algae needs light and most other critters on a rock need some type of food on top of oxygen. I have had rock in tubs for months that holds only bacteria that is still a good filter if it is fed once in a blue moon. Of course it is not maintaining the levels of bacteria that it would in a well fed reef tank. But basically if you have some movement and some temp control (even just being in the house) then you should really have minimal die off over the course of days for anything and practically no die off of nitrogen processing bacteria.