re do on the 30GAL.

ricksconnected · 05/18/2009, 09:45 PM

ok so i made the jump. several of you know that i had a major
nitrate issue. 160 or better. did a 50% water change followed by a 20% a few days later. no difference at all in the trates.
so after careful thought i broke everything down.
heres what i did.

pulled out a bucket of water to cover the 2 5gal buckets of rock.
pulled out a little more to put in a cooler to hold the fish,crabs, and snails. pulled out the rest including the sand.
i had the black/white stuff you get at petsmart. honestly, i hated the look of it since my friend gave me the setup.
washed the tank out really well and scrapped the sides.
washed my new sand really well this time, as thats where i went wrong when i recieved the tank in the first place. i didnt wash the sand. so with a new layer of washed sand in i arranged the live rock. this took 3 times before i liked the looks and thought the flow would work. so in came about 10 gal of water from the buckets. cloud big time. settled rather quickly as i took a few hours and went to the dentist. ok so now comes the bag of live sand. cloud lol. again it too settled quickly. so i mixed up some salt water and started adding. got it about 7 inches from the top.
recleaned my over the back filter and let it rip again. added the power head to clean off the rocks and to check my flow.
the flow is amazing. i cant believe it. ok so before i didnt think i had enogh weight in rock but i was wrong. i have 48lbs of live rock. im wondering if thats to much weight on the bottom of the glass??? ok so i took some tests. the new setup is better than the water the fish are in holding with. i should be ok i think.
the trates are a little higher than i wanted, but they are doable.
they arent a zero i guess because of the stuff on the rocks. with a couple water changes i should have them where i want them. i hope. the old water was probably the cause. i'll give it a day or two and recheck them. so my fish are down stairs on the drip.
i plan to drip them 2 hours. i just dont want to stress them any more than they have been today. poor kids have had enough through all this mess. i did lose my sally. not from all this i dont think. i found her shell from what i think was a molt yesterday.
well my girlfriend found her whole body today while she was sifting the old sand for shells. i think she molted and my two humbugs beat her up. they never did like her though they dont bother any of my other crabs or snails. i took everybodies advice and kept the biowheel off this time. the tank is super clean at this point. very nice. only issue is my dang skimmer power head in the display. i dont have room for a sump on this one so i'll just have to live with it. besides, my porcelin crab likes the intake. he sets right up there grabbing whatever he can get. i dosed with a product called cycle. a friend suggested it and swears by it.
its just a bacteria type product. if all goes well i'll add some pics next weekend. its not a high dollar setup like most ive seen on here but its a start. my only real worry is if my snails will have enough food. anybody have any suggestions on this? i would hate to lose them.

drparker · 05/18/2009, 10:33 PM

Congrats on the successful rebuild.

ricksconnected · 05/18/2009, 11:48 PM

thank you. im not sure its a success as of yet. all the fish and crabs, snails are in and seem to be doing fine. my engineer goby went to work right away. the others are fighting over which cave they get. the crabs hauled azz as soon as they hit the ground.
ok i have another question, how often should i feed my fish? im thinking i was over feeding them before. to much to often.
i did by some mysis shrimp. everybody seems to like it ok except the clown. he still wants his flake food.

05/18/2009, 09:45 PM	#1
ricksconnected Registered Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: ga Posts: 201	re do on the 30GAL. ok so i made the jump. several of you know that i had a major nitrate issue. 160 or better. did a 50% water change followed by a 20% a few days later. no difference at all in the trates. so after careful thought i broke everything down. heres what i did. pulled out a bucket of water to cover the 2 5gal buckets of rock. pulled out a little more to put in a cooler to hold the fish,crabs, and snails. pulled out the rest including the sand. i had the black/white stuff you get at petsmart. honestly, i hated the look of it since my friend gave me the setup. washed the tank out really well and scrapped the sides. washed my new sand really well this time, as thats where i went wrong when i recieved the tank in the first place. i didnt wash the sand. so with a new layer of washed sand in i arranged the live rock. this took 3 times before i liked the looks and thought the flow would work. so in came about 10 gal of water from the buckets. cloud big time. settled rather quickly as i took a few hours and went to the dentist. ok so now comes the bag of live sand. cloud lol. again it too settled quickly. so i mixed up some salt water and started adding. got it about 7 inches from the top. recleaned my over the back filter and let it rip again. added the power head to clean off the rocks and to check my flow. the flow is amazing. i cant believe it. ok so before i didnt think i had enogh weight in rock but i was wrong. i have 48lbs of live rock. im wondering if thats to much weight on the bottom of the glass??? ok so i took some tests. the new setup is better than the water the fish are in holding with. i should be ok i think. the trates are a little higher than i wanted, but they are doable. they arent a zero i guess because of the stuff on the rocks. with a couple water changes i should have them where i want them. i hope. the old water was probably the cause. i'll give it a day or two and recheck them. so my fish are down stairs on the drip. i plan to drip them 2 hours. i just dont want to stress them any more than they have been today. poor kids have had enough through all this mess. i did lose my sally. not from all this i dont think. i found her shell from what i think was a molt yesterday. well my girlfriend found her whole body today while she was sifting the old sand for shells. i think she molted and my two humbugs beat her up. they never did like her though they dont bother any of my other crabs or snails. i took everybodies advice and kept the biowheel off this time. the tank is super clean at this point. very nice. only issue is my dang skimmer power head in the display. i dont have room for a sump on this one so i'll just have to live with it. besides, my porcelin crab likes the intake. he sets right up there grabbing whatever he can get. i dosed with a product called cycle. a friend suggested it and swears by it. its just a bacteria type product. if all goes well i'll add some pics next weekend. its not a high dollar setup like most ive seen on here but its a start. my only real worry is if my snails will have enough food. anybody have any suggestions on this? i would hate to lose them.

05/18/2009, 10:33 PM	#2
drparker Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Palatine, IL Posts: 2,652	Congrats on the successful rebuild.

05/18/2009, 11:48 PM	#3
ricksconnected Registered Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: ga Posts: 201	thank you. im not sure its a success as of yet. all the fish and crabs, snails are in and seem to be doing fine. my engineer goby went to work right away. the others are fighting over which cave they get. the crabs hauled azz as soon as they hit the ground. ok i have another question, how often should i feed my fish? im thinking i was over feeding them before. to much to often. i did by some mysis shrimp. everybody seems to like it ok except the clown. he still wants his flake food.