AquaTricia 40 gal FOWLR

[54seaweed]

Can anyone help me with suggestions about adding additional live sand or crushed coral to a tank with fish without creating a whirlwind or another cycle?


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What I did when I replaced mine was dump sand in 5g bucket than fill with tank water ,
than I scooped out coffee mug full of sand and slowly added to tank , just be sure shut off power heads
(note : keep hand over top of mug as you submerge the mug of sand to keep sand from spilling out )
just take your time , I remember those sand storm days before I knew better

 

[Sniperhank]

A piece of PVC. Put it into the sandbed already there and dump into the pipe. You can then pull the pipe out and move it further around the tank to keep the sand bed even. It will prevent any issues besides what the flow of the system decides that it needs a new home.

 

[54seaweed]

Wish I would have thought of that when I did my sand bed , I did cup by cup next time I'll have to try the pipe idea

 

[AquaTricia]

Ok. Sounds like a winner. Will work on this tomorrow. I think I already have an available pic pipe. Thanks!!

 

[54seaweed]

so how did things turn out you get your sand in

 

[AquaTricia]

I wasn't able to start the sand project until yesterday. I decided to split up adding the new sand across about a week. The pvc pipe worked well. One very bad thing happened. I lost a fish. Either the yellow assessor jumped and I can't find him, or somehow I buried him. Seems like I will never get this tank stocked. First the Chromis, then the blenny, now the assessor.
Meanwhile, the reef tank is running along just fine.

 

[Sniperhank]

It is good to keep the addition slow and spaced out.
In terms of the assessor, it could be hiding from such a large changing event. Is there a top on the tank?

 

[AquaTricia]

The top was off during the sand project. Thw whole top was off, so I couldn't keep a watch on all of it. However, I never found him, inside or out. I hope he's hiding in the rocks, but I hoped that about the blenny and I never found him. Good idea about the pvc pipe. It worked well.

 

[AquaTricia]

Happily the assessor was swimming as normal in the tank this morning. It felt great to see him. Only problem is, I'm gonna scare him to death Monday when I put more sand in and he will retreat back into the rocks.

 

[54seaweed]

well it's good to see it's coming along , those basslets are tuff fish , basslets are found in muddy area's so thats nothing for him , I got 3 basslets myself all mine are about 5 inch they grow fast,
Got a carpet nem he is huge almost 2 ft in diameter when he is fully open he covers almost the whole open area of the 40b that the rocks don't inhabit
Just encountered a big hair algae outbreak , stupid me bought premixed salt water from fish store turned my reef into a instant phosphate factory , I don't know what I was thinking , try doing a short cut as I got lazy now I pay the price , Hope you get the rest of the sand in soon ,

 

[AquaTricia]

I used to get water from the LFS, but after I was instructed to get a TDS meter, and I checked the water, I found it to be awful. About wrecked my reef tank before we could get an ro/di unit installed. I'm so sorry about your situation, though.
My tank is turning red with slimy strings blowing around. It was worse before I added the sand, but it's come back, though not as much. Going to try to get back early tomorrow from my parent's house so I can put in more sand.


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[54seaweed]

sounds like the silicates are burning out of the sand I always stirred my sand to release all the silicates faster , I know that cayno looks nasty I never missed it lol , I always sucked it out as it built up so it never got insanely out of hand

 

[AquaTricia]

Yeah, probably silicates. Been through this before, so not really concerned. Last of the sand went in an hour ago, raising my sand bed to 2 inches or so. Maybe more in the back as it was where it was completely bare when I started this project. Looks really nice and all fishies accounted for.
Getting ready to order a brittle star, some cerinths, banded trochus and a fighting conch for the 40b. Going to add some trochus to the reef as well.


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[54seaweed]

never had luck with brittle stars I have no idea why ,
but I have tons of luck with serpent stars , next time I see one out on the sand I'll snatch him up for you , the ones I have are from 8 inch to 18+inches
I got red white with black spots , gray , white , green and 1 aqua color
most of these came from those little white astiria stars , that everyone always claim won't amount to much ,
there neat though at feeding arms reach out of every where

 

[AquaTricia]

I have a brittle star in the reef tank. He's green and white. I'm crazy about them, so, of course, I had to have one for the 40. I hope LiveAquaria sends me a pretty one. I didn't know that asterina stars ever really amounted to anything. I learn a lot from you. And no, I didn't forget to send you the Kenya Tree. It will be raining all this week as the remnants of Erica pass through, but I have the box and packing material ready. As soon as I can swim to the UPS Store.


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[54seaweed]

A lot of people said that to me , I was crazy but when you see them evolve over time you become a firm believer , I'll have to go into my photo bucket albums see if I can find a few picts , Gregg has a green one the size of a man hole cover , when there white and tiny I can't stand them , but once they mature they are just awesome creatures ,
meant to as was Erica mostly rain or did she get mean ,
I'll never forget Bertha and Fran think it was in 98 watched my home wash into the ocean lost everything
lost my trigger this morning he decided to swim into my power head
,chopped him up like a blender

 

[54seaweed]

This one is just starting to change into a serpent ,
I'm still searching for the other pictures but I'll find them

 

[fish wrangler]

I'll never forget Bertha and Fran think it was in 98 watched my home wash into the ocean lost everything
lost my trigger this morning he decided to swim into my power head
,chopped him up like a blender

Sorry to hear about your trigger, hopefully none of your other fish follow him.

It's ironic you mention Bertha and Fran, I had to read a few pages from "What They Don't Tell You About Hurricanes" and it talked about Fran's impact.

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[AquaTricia]

I am so sorry about your trigger. What a horrible way to die. It must have been awful for you. And I'm sorry about your house. Erica was a kitten compared to some I've seen. Just cloudy all day with rain tonight and last night. Sounds like summer to me. I'm looking over at the reef tank and can see 9 asterinas from here. The 40 has diatoms from the new sand I added yesterday. So, what else is new?


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[54seaweed]

picked this up $30 button coral

They look ugly but should burn off somewhat fast
When I set up the 90 I used live sand didn't really see diatoms instead I got a infestation those nasty vermid snails they took over my sand had to remove it and replaced it , this time I used the bagged live sand cycled it in my feeder tank before I added it into the main seemed to work ,
Now i got a problem getting my carpet nem to settle in , kinda makes me nervous it's going to get stuck in a power head like the trigger , he already got stuck in the outlet tub had to cut the screen into little chunks,
You can suck out those stars with your next water change, I strain them out feed them to the birds ,and I always dump the dirty salt water in tomato garden seems to make the tomatoes get bigger