Hate the color of sand. What to do?

fish clown · 06/27/2012, 09:48 AM

I have this sand that is white with black sand mixed in and takes away from the tanks color alot. I know that you dont want to dissturb the sand bed but this is realy bugging me. There is already pry about 3 to 4in of that sand in the tank. What should I do?

sponger0 · 06/27/2012, 10:01 AM

Honestly, get over it or replace the sand and expect a possibly small cycle.

stingythingy45 · 06/27/2012, 10:34 AM

If the tank is not that old then just "git er done".
You'll probably end up with some nitrates and possibly a small ammonia spike.
But just be ready to do a few water changes in case.

Sk8r · 06/27/2012, 10:55 AM

Set up a fuge that's at least half the size of your tank with rock and sand; let it age. Once that sandbed is strong, you can start pulling your dotty sand little by little until it's mostly gone. Do it when you do water changes. Once you have it 'gone' enough, you can now start adding sand back in (medium grade aragonite is what I recommend: heavy enough not to 'walk' and kill corals, fine enough to look good) ---for sand addition I use an automobile department fat oil funnel stuck into a 2" pvc pipe that's long enough to deliver sand to the tank bottom. I just did this operation. It took me about a year to do it to my satisfaction.

a.browning · 06/27/2012, 11:45 AM

How old is your aquarium? I'd say if it's under 6 months old or so, you should be able to remove the sand with minimal spikes/cycle. If it's older, you may see some parameters get out of whack for a little while. What are your inhabitants? If there are minimal corals and life in there, then removing it would be less risky.

fish clown · 06/27/2012, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by a.browning

How old is your aquarium? I'd say if it's under 6 months old or so, you should be able to remove the sand with minimal spikes/cycle. If it's older, you may see some parameters get out of whack for a little while. What are your inhabitants? If there are minimal corals and life in there, then removing it would be less risky.

I have had the tank for 5 months but I bought it off craigslist from a guy that had it three years. Its only a 75 gal. so during trasport we left the sand and a bit of water in the tank. My current fish are only 4 chromis because i just sold all the fish to get the ones I realy want and I acctuly just order 2firefish, 2 occilaris clowns, and 2 baggii cardinals which will be here friday (thats all I ordered but the larger fish are coming later probaly a month or so) The tank is pretty full of corals right now but nothing real sensitive. Here is some of the corals I have; acan, tons and tons of green star pholps, metalic green trumpet corals, green hydnaporia, I think its a fox coral, and a few different zoas. I also have 5 rose bubble anemones. For inverts I have hermit crabs, snails, sally light foot crabs, One ? crab, cleaner shrimp, 6 pepperment shrimp(for aptaisia), 3 emerald crabs and a sea cucumber. My levels are still not perfect since the move and also since Im new to this hobby and learning how to keep the levels right.

fish clown · 06/27/2012, 12:49 PM

Also I just compleatly cleaned out my sump/fuge because of the amount of detritus that got in there. Just to give you an idea of how bad it was, there was more detritus in the fuge than sand and it got mixed in with the sand so I just tossed the sand that was in the fuge and am picking more up on friday when i go to premium aquatics to pick up the fish and also a filter sock to pevent the detritus and other stuff from enetering the sump. Im planning on getting an ats so if I wait a bit till I make one would it control the nitrates and stuff better that not having one during the switch?

fish clown · 09/07/2012, 03:35 PM

Well ive been ballencing my levels since I last posted and they are finnaly stable. I want new sand very badly so im not realy wanting to deal with it. How safe would it be to just take out everything in the tank LR, water, fish(4chromis and one clown) inverts, but leave the sand. Once everything is out id take the old sand out clean the bottom of sand then add the new sand. That way everything in the old sand would be disturbed minamaly. Then put the LR and everything back in and do a big maybe 40% water change? I bought my tank from a guy who didnt do much to the tank about 6 1/2 months ago (he had it for 3 years). I have a 150gal rated pro clear aquatics skimmer and Ive added a filter sock to my system as well as an ats that I put in recently. How well would this plan work with out putting the levels out of wack???

eyesinthedrk · 09/07/2012, 04:31 PM

I personally would do one of two things.

If the sand is clean
Use a nice fat piece of tubing. Suck out the top 1 or 2 inches and replace it with the sand you want.

If the sand isn't clean.
Take the fish out and put into a holding tank and replace the entire sand bed. If I liked the scape I wouldn't mess with the rocks. As you will never get it right again. If I do t like the scape is to a complete redo.

dc · 09/07/2012, 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eyesinthedrk

I personally would do one of two things.

If the sand is clean
Use a nice fat piece of tubing. Suck out the top 1 or 2 inches and replace it with the sand you want.

If the sand isn't clean.
Take the fish out and put into a holding tank and replace the entire sand bed. If I liked the scape I wouldn't mess with the rocks. As you will never get it right again. If I do t like the scape is to a complete redo.

Coming from experience, he needs to take it all out. I tried just the opposite in my mantis tank. I wanted black and layered it on top. It will mix.

Now I have 'dotty' in my new tank and love it.

I'd go with Sk8r's plan. I've added sand pretty much like she did only I siliconed a cut off funnel to a lift tube.

fish clown · 09/07/2012, 05:03 PM

On dr fosters and smith i found sand reasonably prised and it 0.2 to 1.22 mm grain size. Will that go everywhere or stay put for the most part?

fish clown · 09/07/2012, 08:30 PM

I found three sands I think would be good.http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/http://premiumaquatics.com/aquatic-s...E03616R30.htmlprod_display.cfm?pcatid=7321
http://www.marinedepot.com/CaribSea_...FISSDS-vi.html
Which of these would be best. I want it to be fine enought o look good but large enough to not blow around. I also am wanting some kind of goby that will sift in the sand.

fish clown · 09/07/2012, 08:30 PM

http://www.marinedepot.com/CaribSea_...FISSDS-vi.htmlI found three sands I think would be good.http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/http://premiumaquatics.com/aquatic-s...E03616R30.htmlprod_display.cfm?pcatid=7321
http://www.marinedepot.com/CaribSea_...FISSDS-vi.html
Which of these would be best? I want it to be fine enought o look good but large enough to not blow around. I also am wanting some kind of goby that will sift in the sand.

fish clown · 09/08/2012, 09:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dc

Coming from experience, he needs to take it all out. I tried just the opposite in my mantis tank. I wanted black and layered it on top. It will mix.

Now I have 'dotty' in my new tank and love it.

I'd go with Sk8r's plan. I've added sand pretty much like she did only I siliconed a cut off funnel to a lift tube.

I realy dont compleatly hate the color as so much the sand itself. Right now its little bits of with and black and then there are chunks of black the size of erasers and all in between. I soppose the reason I love white fine sand so much is from when I when to an island in Belize and snokled where the sand was white sand and coral everywhere and I wan tmy tank to look like that; its just my picture of a perfect reef and so I want it to look somwhat like that. Definently the most beatiful place ive been. By the way my avatar picture, which I took, was in Cozumel Mexico not Belize. Any way I ordered the sand of doctors foster and smith(I have a link above). I will be getting 90lbs a week from today. My experienced uncle who has a very impressive 150gal tank recomended that size. He also said it would be best to take out he sand by first tanking out the fish, then the rocks carfully so I dont stir things up and then the water. After the water is drained Id remove all the old sand and clean the bottom well and then wash the new sand with ro/di water and add the sand then add water, rocks, fish. Then he said do a 40% water change. He said to get lots of nassarus snails and maybe a starfish or two because they will keep the sand clean. I like goby and how the filter the sand throught there gills but would they be benificial to the sand? So far does this sound right?

Revmedia · 09/28/2012, 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sk8r

Set up a fuge that's at least half the size of your tank with rock and sand; let it age. Once that sandbed is strong, you can start pulling your dotty sand little by little until it's mostly gone. Do it when you do water changes. Once you have it 'gone' enough, you can now start adding sand back in (medium grade aragonite is what I recommend: heavy enough not to 'walk' and kill corals, fine enough to look good) ---for sand addition I use an automobile department fat oil funnel stuck into a 2" pvc pipe that's long enough to deliver sand to the tank bottom. I just did this operation. It took me about a year to do it to my satisfaction.

This is great advice, and the way I would go about doing this if it were me.

06/27/2012, 09:48 AM	#1
fish clown Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Indianapolis, IN Posts: 484	Hate the color of sand. What to do? I have this sand that is white with black sand mixed in and takes away from the tanks color alot. I know that you dont want to dissturb the sand bed but this is realy bugging me. There is already pry about 3 to 4in of that sand in the tank. What should I do?

06/27/2012, 10:34 AM	#3
stingythingy45 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: MA Posts: 3,296	If the tank is not that old then just "git er done". You'll probably end up with some nitrates and possibly a small ammonia spike. But just be ready to do a few water changes in case. __________________ Bob Current Tank Info: 90 gallon,mixed Reef,2-250 watt Optix 3 pendants(Phoenix 14K)2-54 watt T5 Super actnics ,ASM G-2 Gate/recirc mods,70 gal. basement sump,20L ref

06/27/2012, 10:55 AM	#4
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	Set up a fuge that's at least half the size of your tank with rock and sand; let it age. Once that sandbed is strong, you can start pulling your dotty sand little by little until it's mostly gone. Do it when you do water changes. Once you have it 'gone' enough, you can now start adding sand back in (medium grade aragonite is what I recommend: heavy enough not to 'walk' and kill corals, fine enough to look good) ---for sand addition I use an automobile department fat oil funnel stuck into a 2" pvc pipe that's long enough to deliver sand to the tank bottom. I just did this operation. It took me about a year to do it to my satisfaction. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

06/27/2012, 11:45 AM	#5
a.browning Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Columbus, Ohio Posts: 975	How old is your aquarium? I'd say if it's under 6 months old or so, you should be able to remove the sand with minimal spikes/cycle. If it's older, you may see some parameters get out of whack for a little while. What are your inhabitants? If there are minimal corals and life in there, then removing it would be less risky. __________________ 75 SPS, 80 & 45 Frag Tank, 40B Leather Tank

09/07/2012, 04:31 PM	#9
eyesinthedrk Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Williamsport, PA Posts: 675	I personally would do one of two things. If the sand is clean Use a nice fat piece of tubing. Suck out the top 1 or 2 inches and replace it with the sand you want. If the sand isn't clean. Take the fish out and put into a holding tank and replace the entire sand bed. If I liked the scape I wouldn't mess with the rocks. As you will never get it right again. If I do t like the scape is to a complete redo. __________________ Everybody knows you never go full retard. Current Tank Info: SPS dominated, 125 gallon dt with 3 Apollo reef LED pendants, Apex Controler. 100 gal basement sump, 100 gallon basement fuge, euro reef skimmer, reef octopu s cr140 calcium reactor. Phos an reactor. Last edited by eyesinthedrk; 09/07/2012 at 04:37 PM.

06/27/2012, 10:01 AM	#2
sponger0 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Virginia Beach Posts: 6,659	Honestly, get over it or replace the sand and expect a possibly small cycle.

06/27/2012, 12:49 PM	#7
fish clown Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Indianapolis, IN Posts: 484	Also I just compleatly cleaned out my sump/fuge because of the amount of detritus that got in there. Just to give you an idea of how bad it was, there was more detritus in the fuge than sand and it got mixed in with the sand so I just tossed the sand that was in the fuge and am picking more up on friday when i go to premium aquatics to pick up the fish and also a filter sock to pevent the detritus and other stuff from enetering the sump. Im planning on getting an ats so if I wait a bit till I make one would it control the nitrates and stuff better that not having one during the switch?

09/07/2012, 03:35 PM	#8
fish clown Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Indianapolis, IN Posts: 484	Well ive been ballencing my levels since I last posted and they are finnaly stable. I want new sand very badly so im not realy wanting to deal with it. How safe would it be to just take out everything in the tank LR, water, fish(4chromis and one clown) inverts, but leave the sand. Once everything is out id take the old sand out clean the bottom of sand then add the new sand. That way everything in the old sand would be disturbed minamaly. Then put the LR and everything back in and do a big maybe 40% water change? I bought my tank from a guy who didnt do much to the tank about 6 1/2 months ago (he had it for 3 years). I have a 150gal rated pro clear aquatics skimmer and Ive added a filter sock to my system as well as an ats that I put in recently. How well would this plan work with out putting the levels out of wack???

09/07/2012, 05:03 PM	#11
fish clown Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Indianapolis, IN Posts: 484	On dr fosters and smith i found sand reasonably prised and it 0.2 to 1.22 mm grain size. Will that go everywhere or stay put for the most part?

09/07/2012, 08:30 PM	#12
fish clown Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Indianapolis, IN Posts: 484	I found three sands I think would be good.http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/http://premiumaquatics.com/aquatic-s...E03616R30.htmlprod_display.cfm?pcatid=7321 http://www.marinedepot.com/CaribSea_...FISSDS-vi.html Which of these would be best. I want it to be fine enought o look good but large enough to not blow around. I also am wanting some kind of goby that will sift in the sand.