fish selections.... 10 gal, going to 55 gal soon.

[MikeDVB]

How do you clean the gravel without causing distress to the fish?

 

[Caleb]

You can, just make sure it's clean... You can buy rock (probably safer) or use ones you find, but who knows what else your putting in the tank.

its amazing how much poop there is in all that gravel, I've had my 30 going for over 5 years, I'd hate to see the poo collection I've got down there!

Mine hadn't been running that long, but damn! I'm also thinking there was algae in between the rocks the otto cat and rainbow shark couldn't get to. I think moving to sand will prevent poo and algae from creeping down in between the rocks

 

[Caleb]

How do you clean the gravel without causing distress to the fish?

Vacuum

 

[Frosty]

Mine hadn't been running that long, but damn! I'm also thinking there was algae in between the rocks the otto cat and rainbow shark couldn't get to. I think moving to sand will prevent poo and algae from creeping down in between the rocks

If your on top of the clean up it should help, but it will sink into the sand, making it even harder to clean up. If you want to get rid of the algae, get a couple snails, you won't have to worry about after that!

 

[Caleb]

If your on top of the clean up it should help, but it will sink into the sand, making it even harder to clean up. If you want to get rid of the algae, get a couple snails, you won't have to worry about after that!

My otto cat kicks ass at algae, except those he can't reach....

 

[Caleb]

Here's a decent article just for future reference:

Suitability of Rocks in the Aquarium - A Practical Guide

 

[Frosty]

I got a couple snails that stripped a nice lush layer of algae off my driftwood in days! I liked that algae, it looked like a layer of velvet, bright green, it just made the tank look more natural... Then my clown loach (krusty the clown loach) ate them all!

 

[Caleb]

As I'm looking into DIY canisters, I'm thinking an external pump like this one...

Eheim Compact+ Pump

528gph should cycle 55 gallons pretty good, and should allow me up move up to a 200 gal maybe later one down the road.

 

[Brandon]

Careful with sand.
Make sure you wash it really really really really good before putting it in the tank!
Also, make sure if your filter intakes sit close to the bottom, to raise them. I found out years ago the hard way of what sand can do to the inside of a filter/housing. Let's just say it emptied most of the tank.

I've always wanted to use white sand in a SW tank, but pure white sand was to expensive at the time (I have not looked at prices for it in the last 10 years or so)

 

[Caleb]

Careful with sand.
Make sure you wash it really really really really good before putting it in the tank!
Also, make sure if your filter intakes sit close to the bottom, to raise them. I found out years ago the hard way of what sand can do to the inside of a filter/housing. Let's just say it emptied most of the tank.

I've always wanted to use white sand in a SW tank, but pure white sand was to expensive at the time (I have not looked at prices for it in the last 10 years or so)

I usually keep my intake tube halfway up from the bottom, I bought some pool filter sand so it's suppose to be pretty clean already. I'll still clean it anyways just to be sure.

 

[Brandon]

Sounds like you will be fine then unless you have a fish that gets a little feisty and kicks the sand up a lot. I had my intakes to low on an old 55, and it would suck up sand that was kicked up by the fish. I guess it sucked up enough to cause a sand blasting effect on the inside where the impeller is. Ate the crap out of the impeller and caused the housing to spring a leak.

 

[Caleb]

Sounds like you will be fine then unless you have a fish that gets a little feisty and kicks the sand up a lot. I had my intakes to low on an old 55, and it would suck up sand that was kicked up by the fish. I guess it sucked up enough to cause a sand blasting effect on the inside where the impeller is. Ate the crap out of the impeller and caused the housing to spring a leak.

what pump did you have?

 

[Brandon]

Marine land magnum IIRC.

 

[Caleb]

Marine land magnum IIRC.

That's right, I remember you talking about that. I also use sponge filters over the intake tube, so that should handle any of the larger pieces of sand as well.

 

[HeadlessRoland]

I cannot advise sand in freshwater. It usually turns into anoxic sludge over time, especially if there's any depth to it.

 

[Caleb]

I cannot advise sand in freshwater. It usually turns into anoxic sludge over time, especially if there's any depth to it.

it will be ok

 

[Frosty]

it will be ok

It would be good to change out a little sand once in awhile, it will absorb phosphates and cause algae blooms. Marine sand is only about $1 a pound for that's supposed to have "live" bacteria in it. Well, it doesn't look bright white in the package but after you put it under lights for a reef tank it looks beautiful!

 

[Caleb]

It would be good to change out a little sand once in awhile, it will absorb phosphates and cause algae blooms. Marine sand is only about $1 a pound for that's supposed to have "live" bacteria in it. Well, it doesn't look bright white in the package but after you put it under lights for a reef tank it looks beautiful!

$100 to spend on sand is a decent chunk of change...I'll probably will rotate sand out over time

 

[Frosty]

$100 to spend on sand is a decent chunk of change...I'll probably will rotate sand out over time

I only need about 100 more pounds for my tank... I'm doing a 3" deep sand bed to keep 1 or 2 yellow headed jawfish in...

 

[Caleb]

I paid $29 for 100 pounds of pool filter sand, I may put some in the 10 gal as I have previously removed the gravel