fluval Chi to 10 gal upgrade

[Bearchumjs]

Originally Posted by needmorecowbell

I agree, but how about instead of putting the whole shrimp in, proportion it? Maybe a quarter or less of it will do, you just want it to show that you have ammo.

I'd rather do that the. Use my bloodworms, cause my freshie fish like to eat them.

[Huffers]

Yea that's fine but I would use a tiny, tiny piece of shrimp. Smaller than you might think. And then prolly only leave it in there for 48 hours or so then remove it. By that time you should have enough bacteria to get you started.

[Bearchumjs]

Let the cycle begin! I added a small portion of the shrimp.

[Huffers]

Good luck! Give it 24 hours or so and then test everything again.

[reyma10]

What kind of filter media are u using on the filters

[Bearchumjs]

Originally Posted by reyma10

What kind of filter media are u using on the filters

Right now I just have the filter cartridge in it. It has some carbon in it.

[needmorecowbell]

That will take care of some of the smell

[Bearchumjs]

Originally Posted by needmorecowbell

That will take care of some of the smell

Ok. Since we are on the topic of filters, I plan on using the little bag of purigen, but not until after the cycle, and I was wondering if I should get some little bio ring or something too.

Ammonia was at 1ppm this morning.

[needmorecowbell]

If you plan on cleaning the ring regularly, then yes. If not, it will just add nitrates to the system. Purigen is some good stuff, you should use it if you have it, after the cycle like you said.

[Bearchumjs]

Originally Posted by needmorecowbell

If you plan on cleaning the ring regularly, then yes. If not, it will just add nitrates to the system. Purigen is some good stuff, you should use it if you have it, after the cycle like you said.

Ok. I am using purigen in my freshwater tank and I really like it. I'll get some for my saltwater too after the cycle is done.

Do you think I have too much sand in my tank?

[needmorecowbell]

How many inches do you think you have? You don't want too much or there will be nitrate buildup in the bottom, you also don't want too little or you won't get any of the bacteria you want in a Sandbed.

[Bearchumjs]

Probably 2-3 is guess.

[needmorecowbell]

Hopefully this works, I found a post on here that really sums this up.

Originally Posted by Rgillund

I'm new to this forum, but not new to reefing so I will try to help you a bit here, my first post haha!
Use as much as you like, there are pros and cons to it all. My current reef tank has no sand in it (bare bottom). I have ran deep sand beds (dsb) which is about 6 inches, and then the 1-3 inch beds, so have tried it all. Shallow beds .5 inches...etc
Bare bottom is easy to keep clean, and with it you can have a lot for flow in the tank with no worry of the sand getting blown all over the place. Also nutrients won't be trapped in the sand causing problems with phosphates etc. Another nice plus to BB is that if frags are flipped over by snails or fish they don't get buried in the sand, and the corals will encrust across the glass and looks nice then as well. Things like montipora, or zoas etc. It sort of looks strange the first month or two, but then the coraline takes over and it all turns purple and coral starts growing on the glass and then you don't even notice it. I was talking to my wife about it the other day as a matter of fact and she was saying she hated it at first always having sand before but now it looked like every other tank with sand in it.
1-4 inch beds are the toughest to maintain. They are not deep enough to have the denitrification zones, and not shallow enough to easily clean. Sand beds of this depth normally are a huge nutrient sink and can raise PO3 levels in a tank cause problems like cyano, and hair algae etc. This depth is most aesthetically pleasing for most people and what you normally see in a reef. Just know that you will have to take steps to keep the sand clean at this depth. High flow, stirring the sand etc will help. Also feed lightly. Things like conchs, snails, and certain fish may help but generally can't do enough.
Deep sand beds are neat in my opinion, but they can look strange in some tanks. You get a huge array of micro fauna that you don't see with any other type of sand bed. With a dsb you don't stir or do anything. You load up the sand and then wait for nature to do it's job. A dsb will actually lower your nitrates and phosphates if set up and maintained correctly. There is a LOT of info on dsb on the web and some love it some hate it, just like with BB tanks. You can read up on the pros and cons if you want just google it or there are very very extensive talks about it on a site called wetwebmedia.com in their forums.
There are also sand bed calculators online that you can google search. Just put in your tank dims and the depth you like and it will give you a ball park.
I do agree with the poster above. Fiji Pink is my favorite (it doesn't look pink so not sure why they call it that). Another thing that will make a difference in the actual weight is if you get sugar fine sand or the larger grains or even crushed coral. I would say stay away from crushed coral and go with either sugar fine or a bit bigger. I like fine sand for sand beds personally because it seems like uneaten food tends to sit on top better where the larger grains make a more porous area and food and fish poo are more likely to settle in between the sand grains and cause bigger issues. But the sugar fine is also a little tougher to keep from being blown around the tank as well. Especially in the begining when it's fresh. Once it's in the tank a month or two it settles down because it gets a bio film on each grain of sand making it a bit heavier so more likely to stay settled.
OK, sorry for such a long winded answer, but from the sound of your question it sounds like maybe you need to think about a few other things. If you want, you can tell us what size tank it is and what depth you would like. Read and do a little more research on dsb, vs bb vs ssb. That may help you with your choice. There are also some great books. My favorite is a book by Robert Fenner called Reef Invertebrates. It talks about everything from snails and sponges down to sand and sand beds and was one of the first reefing books I bought and I have bought a few more since in the hobby because I still like reading bits here and there in it. Great great info in that book for new and old reef hobbyists.

[Huffers]

Ok first off regarding filtration you do NOT need purigen. You got to realize just how small a system your dealing with. The more chemical additives you enter into your system the bigger the chance for failure. Honestly you prolly don't need even a filter pad. One of the biggest things novices don't realize is the importance of live rock. Live rock IS your filter. It provides more beneficial things than any filter medium ever created. If you have the proper amount of live rock in your system the only other thing you need in a small tank like yours is water flow. Your filter will provide that water flow. Go ahead and use a filter pad in it to remove the bigger particles.

In regards to your sand bed 3" may be a little too much. I would say 2" max in a 5 gallon tank. But you prolly would be ok if you left it as is.

[needmorecowbell]

Originally Posted by Huffers

Ok first off regarding filtration you do NOT need purigen. You got to realize just how small a system your dealing with. The more chemical additives you enter into your system the bigger the chance for failure. Honestly you prolly don't need even a filter pad. One of the biggest things novices don't realize is the importance of live rock. Live rock IS your filter. It provides more beneficial things than any filter medium ever created. If you have the proper amount of live rock in your system the only other thing you need in a small tank like yours is water flow. Your filter will provide that water flow. Go ahead and use a filter pad in it to remove the bigger particles.

In regards to your sand bed 3" may be a little too much. I would say 2" max in a 5 gallon tank. But you prolly would be ok if you left it as is.

Purigen isn't exactly a bunch of chemicals, and I think that if it's proportioned, it will work well. Your definitely right about the rock, that's just about the most important type of filtration.

[Huffers]

True, I think purigen def has a warranted use.... Just in bigger systems. In a 5 gallon tank (which is really only like 3 and a half gallons once sand, rocks and inhabitants are added) its soooo easy to overdose "good" things to the point that it can become deadly. This is easily demonstrated with the use of iodine. We all know crustaceans need iodine to properly molt however too much iodine will wipe out an entire reef tank.

With that being said I think it would be easier and much safer to just stick with live rock as your primary filtration choice and try to avoid the use of added chemicals. But that's just my humble opinion.

[Zactheninja]

When I cycled my 7 gallon I just used the live rock.
And I used an aquaclear, I keep it on the lowest flow setting but it's a nice way to go.
If you have the extra cash I would upgrade to that, and you could always make it into a hob sump.
Hope that was helpful

[Bearchumjs]

I removed about half of the sand today and added some RODI water because my tank was a little too salty. Now my sand bed is about 1-1.5 ish inches or so. It's cloudy again cause it got stirred up. I've emailed they guy in Craigslist who has $5 frags to see if he has around 4lbs of live rock to sell me. We'll see.

[Huffers]

That looks good to me. What's your salinity measuring? Remember that once you get inhabitants into the tank you'll want to go about changing salinity extremely slowly.

Hopefully you'll get your live rock soon. Too bad you don't live near me I would give you some extra that I've got!

[Bearchumjs]

Originally Posted by Huffers

That looks good to me. What's your salinity measuring? Remember that once you get inhabitants into the tank you'll want to go about changing salinity extremely slowly.

Hopefully you'll get your live rock soon. Too bad you don't live near me I would give you some extra that I've got!

It's about 1.024 now.