FireEater
Guest
Took two full days, but I was able to siphon all sand from my 125g, sift it, wash it and put it back. I actually went back with not quite half of what was in there.
When I set that tank up back in 2006, I went with Southdown, anyone remember that mess? lol! Super fine sand that snows in the tank. Then I added regular Carib Sand on top of it after I removed some of it in hopes of holding it down.
Well after eight years of running, I believe the sand was loaded with phosphates and other crud. I had already removed all the sand from my Refugium last month. I posted a thread with all those pics. I didn't take any pics this time though.
After removing all the sand from the Refugium, I could tell the system was running a lot cleaner, but still something was up it seems. Some corals were just not acting right, while others were doing great. Parameters were all good, but I just didn't trust that old of a sandbed.
So I set up an Igloo on top of a TV Tray. I hooked a hose to the drain and put it in the Sump area by the Skimmer. Inside the Igloo, I folded up a towel and put it at one end against the drain. That way it would catch and filter all the crud from the sand and water.
I would start a siphon with the clear hose and suck up the sand and as it went into the Igloo, the water would filter through back into the tank. I realized this would not filter out the phosphates, but was the quickest way to go as I had a lot of sand in there. Periodically I would scoop the sand out and put it in 5g buckets.
As I said, I did half the tank one day and half the other. I would then take the sand, put it in a sifter I made with some screen and rinse it, sifting all the Southdown out. Then put it in a bucket to go back in the tank.
Of course most of my rock work collapsed, but I was able to place it directly on my bottom and piece it all together better than it was. So I replaced some rock work, put some sand back in, replaced some more rock, put some more sand in, until I had half the tank down. Then the next day I did the same thing on the other half.
Now after a few days, the tank does look cleaner and water is clearer. Tomorrow I will do a 65g water change on it. I used a turkey baster last night and blew out a lot of the rock. Tonight I will use a small power head and do it again. I also put a large sock filter over the two pipes coming from both tanks into the Sump. I kept it in place for two days and it was pretty clogged up.
I put another one in place tonight for the power head blow down.
Like I said, I just believe that after 8 years, my sand was most likely full up. Though with zero phosphates registering the day before, it might not have been leaching them out continually. Maybe periodically though?
But for now, I have fresh sand in the 29g and the 125g with the Sump sand free. It has rocks and dead coral in it holding up my Mangrove.
EDIT: I forgot, my Magnesium level was at 650ppm the day before also.
When I set that tank up back in 2006, I went with Southdown, anyone remember that mess? lol! Super fine sand that snows in the tank. Then I added regular Carib Sand on top of it after I removed some of it in hopes of holding it down.
Well after eight years of running, I believe the sand was loaded with phosphates and other crud. I had already removed all the sand from my Refugium last month. I posted a thread with all those pics. I didn't take any pics this time though.
After removing all the sand from the Refugium, I could tell the system was running a lot cleaner, but still something was up it seems. Some corals were just not acting right, while others were doing great. Parameters were all good, but I just didn't trust that old of a sandbed.
So I set up an Igloo on top of a TV Tray. I hooked a hose to the drain and put it in the Sump area by the Skimmer. Inside the Igloo, I folded up a towel and put it at one end against the drain. That way it would catch and filter all the crud from the sand and water.
I would start a siphon with the clear hose and suck up the sand and as it went into the Igloo, the water would filter through back into the tank. I realized this would not filter out the phosphates, but was the quickest way to go as I had a lot of sand in there. Periodically I would scoop the sand out and put it in 5g buckets.
As I said, I did half the tank one day and half the other. I would then take the sand, put it in a sifter I made with some screen and rinse it, sifting all the Southdown out. Then put it in a bucket to go back in the tank.
Of course most of my rock work collapsed, but I was able to place it directly on my bottom and piece it all together better than it was. So I replaced some rock work, put some sand back in, replaced some more rock, put some more sand in, until I had half the tank down. Then the next day I did the same thing on the other half.
Now after a few days, the tank does look cleaner and water is clearer. Tomorrow I will do a 65g water change on it. I used a turkey baster last night and blew out a lot of the rock. Tonight I will use a small power head and do it again. I also put a large sock filter over the two pipes coming from both tanks into the Sump. I kept it in place for two days and it was pretty clogged up.
I put another one in place tonight for the power head blow down.
Like I said, I just believe that after 8 years, my sand was most likely full up. Though with zero phosphates registering the day before, it might not have been leaching them out continually. Maybe periodically though?
But for now, I have fresh sand in the 29g and the 125g with the Sump sand free. It has rocks and dead coral in it holding up my Mangrove.
EDIT: I forgot, my Magnesium level was at 650ppm the day before also.
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