Foam from sand skim from top or leave?

[kidkameleon3]

Got 50lb of caribean,3 lbs live sand,2lb small rubble, and 1 lb large rubble (golf ball size).Anyway I had the water right and added the sand today there is quite a bit of foam, should I let it settle or scrap it off the top and disgard?

Thanx

 

[jamal-188]

It would just scoop it off if you can. It won't hurt to leave it in but it will probably make the tank settle faster if you just get rid of it.

 

[scuba_steve]

yea pull out the foam i wouldnt of added the live sand untill the base sand had settled and the tank been cycled first !! your prob gonna lose alot of life that was in the sand imo :-(

 

[kidkameleon3]

doh, I was thinking the samer thing, but hey I can get "nice nice" live sand by the single pound and I am on the hunt for local reefers to collect live sand from.The rubble and such with the live sand should be good to get it going.

Once it is pretty cycled I am gonna start adding my LR and such. And I only plan on having small fish and adding them one at a time over a extended period.That way the tanks bio can grow as needed.

Thanx for the vice,lol

 

[scuba_steve]

imo the longer ya can hold out buying fish the better for the live rock/sand !! unless ya have a fuge to grow pods

 

[kidkameleon3]

Here is my ruff time line

weeks:

1-3 , let sand settle and start cycle with small flake etc. get the lights going and add some photo plankton.

4-8 Start adding live rock about (all from lfs (wholesaler good **** no petland stuff)) 5lbs a week


8-? Add LR and small fish until tank is complete

Hopefully adding live sand every other week or so from diff sources

 

[scuba_steve]

sounds good instead of flakes id use a raw shrimp from grocery store works great and less mess than flakes !! im not a fan of any flake food but that me !!

ohhhh yea the more source for sand AND live rock imo the better you will be !! i like to add to my tank even now if i see a piece i like i buy and just keep adding fiji/florida rock/toga ect
looks like ya have done some home work and imo as long as ya reframe from wild fish purchases your tank and rock will grow all types of things and look great even without fish i love the small pods worms ect why i set up another fuge just with lr want to see what a tank with just lr will turn out like good luck

 

[kidkameleon3]

Little back ground on my current 10gal. Had it for a year with about 2 lbs of live. Added a few damsels.Another 6 months added some choice LR.Now I have after all that time I have life springing from every little crack etc.. Thats what got me going again.

I had a fresh chichlid (venustus) for 4 years that from on my own bio set up. Simple added all the sponges and balls to the fluval 404 and then let it go for teh whole time with no changes.All the levels where good and the fish loved it.

I think reef/bio is the only way to go, it is the dank minut life that makes the tanks great not $300 fish , imo


I agree hand picking choice rocks is the fun.

 

[scuba_steve]

sooooo sooo agree i like the fish as well but they will do some damage on the critters !! 10 gallons hummm not many 300 fish will fit in that hehehe j/k

 

[kidkameleon3]

So after the sand starts to become established do you think I need to add much esle to the sand besides other live sand ? Like buy(shutters) some micro sand orgs?I haven't got much into that yet

 

[scuba_steve]

well it all matter who and were your getting your sand !! if its true "LIVE" sand and not the stuff in the bags that say it live than you should have worms ect !! due to it only a 10 gallon tank no need to buy any stars for sure !! go with a couple of the nassarius snails imo 3-4 will do a good job stirring the sand all by them selfs !! but most dont remember that ya cant just add sand and forget about it !! i think that at least every year ya need to add a bit of new live sand to help the populations to continue!! i bring sand back everytime im in florida so not a prob when it comes to critters !!

 

[kidkameleon3]

lol, my 10 gallon is the old one.I am moving to a 55.Hence all the checking into.Sorry for cornfusion.

Ya the stuff I get comes from there live sand culture tank.I think they sell so much then add more sand then let it go for a bit then sell more.

Thanks fur the tip on the snails I assumed the better the sand got sifted or moved a bit the better.

Just emailed a local guy selling a tank 130gl and am tring to get him to let me stop by and scoop up a few lbas of live from him for a few $ that would be great

About how long should the tank take to clear up.I turned my pump off to let it settle and such , but still cloudy as piss

 

[scuba_steve]

ahhhhh thats better a 10 gallon to me would be to hard !! i like to much stuff and it would be full of rock and no room for anything else heheh yea keeping the sand somewhat stirred imo is the key !!
it can take a week or two to settle if ya used the fine southdown sand !! i would leave the pumps running !! if not it will settle and then when ya turn them back on it will cloud up again !! just after it settles make sure ya pull the pumps and clean them they will be full of sand which is no good

 

[kidkameleon3]

jes man that sounds like work, you know what we need here is a live sand co op.Where every one can trade lbs of sand from established tanks in diff areas.That to sounds like work though

 

[scuba_steve]

check out reefcentral they have alot of members which have a good local forum where im sure you can find a local club to join

 

[kidkameleon3]

thanx man

 

[kidkameleon3]

man you guys were not shating this sand takes forever to clear up.Still going but getting alot better

 

[cmor1701d]

The sand will settle when it's coated with bacteria. That's what makes it heavy enough to fall out of suspension and settle to the bottom. My 125 took about a week with the pumps running and some LR to seed it.

Did you add the shrimp to help the cycle move along? Adding some LR now would help with the cycle too. I'm guessing that the LR you are getting is fully cured and that's why you are adding it in small quantities over a few weeks period of time, and after the tank has cycled.

As Steve said, you want to keep the pumps running too. Otherwise when you turn them on you will get another huge sand storm.

When I set up my 125 last year I found that even after the tank had cycled I created a new sandstorm anytime I did anything in the tank. I was told by the members here that they could lift a handful of sand and it would settle in minutes. Well guess what. I can do that too now

Sounds like you are the right path, going slow

 

[kidkameleon3]

ya I added 2 raw shrimp last night and still have my pumps running. I got a lb of rubble and a few other medium size (4-6") in it. I flaked it also and put some stress zyme in it.I too hope to make the sand work:0

 

[kidkameleon3]

almost clear finally.with pic or not it may seem