Washing live sand? (urgent)

[chichimom79]

The die off will probably cause enough ammonia to kick off your cycle again. Adding a small shrimp wouldn't hurt anything, but may be unnecessary. One other thing is that if the tank wasn't pushing enough water through the majority of your live rock that you keep in the back, it wasn't giving you as much benefit as it should be. I'd put a little bit more rock in the display and get a powerhead to get more water movement in the system. Don't skip the clean up crew this time. Get some nassarius snails, cerith snails and astraea snails- at least 5-10 of each of them. That, along with getting more current in the tank will make a HUGE difference. Good luck this time around. Was your LFS able to keep your clowns for you while you recycle the tank?

 

[d2mini]

+1

More rock and definitely more flow. Flow is one of the most important things in a saltwater tank. The return pump is not enough.

 

[Laz]

I'll see about moving the LR! Although, the flow is enough I feel.

Yep, I'll definitely be looking to add a much more significant CUC. Well, the clowns are in a large 15 gallon bucket, which has a power head and heater all in there. Would this be a problem?

 

[d2mini]

I'll see about moving the LR! Although, the flow is enough I feel.

What do you have in there for flow besides the biocube return pump?


The clowns will probably be ok but you'll have to keep doing water changes. There's nowhere for fish poop or leftover food to go.

 

[Laz]

Oh, I misunderstood. I thought you meant the return pump wasn't enough for the sump.

I usually use the powerhead that's in the bucket, so the return pump as well as the powerhead.

 

[fastrd400]

Get anothef power head for the tank. Run 2 of them. What is in the back chambers?

 

[Laz]

Will do!

Just half my LR, a heater and the return pump.

I just had a look at my LR in the display tank and I've got plenty of them little lice things crawling around on it. Checked my ammonia and nitrite, all at 0 so far.

 

[fastrd400]

Part of the problem was not enough flow, which is why I say add another powerhead. Good you only have live rock in the back, as it will help with your natural filtration. You really should have some sort of sponge, or filter floss as well to help collect the solids that make it through the over flow.

Another question is what do you feed, and how often? What kind of lights, and how long are they on?

 

[Laz]

Putting floss isn't easy as the sump is so small, and the last compartment flows through the bottom, not over the top. As the overflow has got the LR, the middle one is the only free one, and I'd be blocking that if I did put some. Not an easy thing to do, unfortunately. I think regular siphoning will keep it clean.

I feed them brine shrimp, which has garlic included. Feed them once a day, and a small chunk off the little cube. My timings for feeding were terrible. I'd even feed before I turn off the lights so I'll sort that out too.

Running a RapidLED PAR38 which runs for approx 11-13 hours a day.

 

[Laz]

No spike or signs of ammonia yet. Levels are 0 for Ammonia/Nitrite.

Is it possible I've not suffered die-off or just removed it totally? Because the sand was thoroughly washed over and over in tap water and the display live rock was only lightly scrubbed to remove detritus.

I am seeing diatoms starting to form this time, though.