Replaced CC with Southdown DSB - 4 to 5 in deep enough?

[Dieter Kedrowitsch]

This is my second post in a week. :) Earlier I posted on the fact
that I just setup my 75 gal tank with the intent of slowly growing it
into a reef. A coworker of mine is very successful with two very nice
SW tanks and instructed me to use fine (very fine) crushed coral for
my substrate. Two weeks after I had the tank setup I learned after
reading this NG that Home Depot's Southdown sand is a much better
substrate then CC for many reasons and it's a good idea to use if
possible. In my last post I asked if the CC would be OK or if I
should find some Southdown and build a DSB. Someone (CapFusion)
replied that it would be OK to stick with the fine crushed coral but I
figured I'd look for the Southdown anyway. I live about 1 hour
north-east of Philly PA so the changes were pretty good I could fined
it. Well, the yesterday I found SKIDS of Southdown (now Oldcastle)
Tropical Play Sand and bought 350lbs! :) Tonight I completely removed
all the crushed coral and put about 180lbs of the Southdown in. I
just finished about an hour ago so the tank is completely clouded but
it only has two damsels (can't catch them) so I'm not too worked as
they seem fine. I don't want to change any water yet because I'm only
2 weeks into the cycle so I'll just wait for it to settle and the
filter to catch what it can.

I feel that because I'm so early into this venture that its probably
best to get on the right foot as far as substrate is concirned while I
still can. I'd hate to establish a reef only to find that I'm
fighting an uphill nitrate battle beacuse of poor substrate.
Hopefully I made the right choice. From the hours and hours of
reading I've done recently, I think I have.

Now to the cloud. I have a Berlin Triple Pass Turbo skimmer that is
"freaking out" from the silt in the water and removing gobs of brown
foam and white water. It's turned down so it dosn't foam enough to
overflow a 5 gal bucket while I'm asleep tonight. Perhaps it's best
to leave it off until my canister filter packed with floss can catch
most of the heavy silt?

[Marc Levenson]

Dieter,

Southdown is just fine. Run your skimmer and your canister filter, and clean
them out very often for the first 48 hours. You might even try cleaning them
out hourly, until the water clears. The finer particulates may be beneficial,
but it will take weeks for your biological foundation to build to the point that
your sand stays where it belongs.

Even then, avoid allowing a powerhead to fall and blast your DSB.

Btw, your depth is fine.

At this point, your cycle is restarting, so start as of now and expect about 4
weeks for it to be complete. You can take a cup or two of your CC substrate,
pour it into some panty hose and lay that on your sand, so that some of the
bacteria you had growing will migrate into your new sand. Or just add the CC in
2 or 3 small mounds on your DSB if you don't mind the look. It won't be there
too long, as it will settle into the sand over time.

Marc


Dieter Kedrowitsch wrote:

> This is my second post in a week. :) Earlier I posted on the fact
> that I just setup my 75 gal tank with the intent of slowly growing it
> into a reef. A coworker of mine is very successful with two very nice
> SW tanks and instructed me to use fine (very fine) crushed coral for
> my substrate. Two weeks after I had the tank setup I learned after
> reading this NG that Home Depot's Southdown sand is a much better
> substrate then CC for many reasons and it's a good idea to use if
> possible. In my last post I asked if the CC would be OK or if I
> should find some Southdown and build a DSB. Someone (CapFusion)
> replied that it would be OK to stick with the fine crushed coral but I
> figured I'd look for the Southdown anyway. I live about 1 hour
> north-east of Philly PA so the changes were pretty good I could fined
> it. Well, the yesterday I found SKIDS of Southdown (now Oldcastle)
> Tropical Play Sand and bought 350lbs! :) Tonight I completely removed
> all the crushed coral and put about 180lbs of the Southdown in. I
> just finished about an hour ago so the tank is completely clouded but
> it only has two damsels (can't catch them) so I'm not too worked as
> they seem fine. I don't want to change any water yet because I'm only
> 2 weeks into the cycle so I'll just wait for it to settle and the
> filter to catch what it can.
>
> I feel that because I'm so early into this venture that its probably
> best to get on the right foot as far as substrate is concirned while I
> still can. I'd hate to establish a reef only to find that I'm
> fighting an uphill nitrate battle beacuse of poor substrate.
> Hopefully I made the right choice. From the hours and hours of
> reading I've done recently, I think I have.
>
> Now to the cloud. I have a Berlin Triple Pass Turbo skimmer that is
> "freaking out" from the silt in the water and removing gobs of brown
> foam and white water. It's turned down so it dosn't foam enough to
> overflow a 5 gal bucket while I'm asleep tonight. Perhaps it's best
> to leave it off until my canister filter packed with floss can catch
> most of the heavy silt?

--
Personal Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com

[CapFusion]

Those cloud storm is normal. It will get heavy and settle as time pass. 4 to
5in depth is good.
Put your old CC into several panty-hose so the bacteria / worm or whatever
can start spreading to your new substrate.
Use a mesh or pad to cover your intake of your skimmer / pump. Those pad /
mesh will need to be clean out regularly. During this time, water change is
important. Keep on checking the water. Your A/N/N will go up and down.

Man, I would like to have some Tropical Play Sand!

CapFusion,...


"Dieter Kedrowitsch" > wrote in message
om...
> This is my second post in a week. :) Earlier I posted on the fact
> that I just setup my 75 gal tank with the intent of slowly growing it
> into a reef. A coworker of mine is very successful with two very nice
> SW tanks and instructed me to use fine (very fine) crushed coral for
> my substrate. Two weeks after I had the tank setup I learned after
> reading this NG that Home Depot's Southdown sand is a much better
> substrate then CC for many reasons and it's a good idea to use if
> possible. In my last post I asked if the CC would be OK or if I
> should find some Southdown and build a DSB. Someone (CapFusion)
> replied that it would be OK to stick with the fine crushed coral but I
> figured I'd look for the Southdown anyway. I live about 1 hour
> north-east of Philly PA so the changes were pretty good I could fined
> it. Well, the yesterday I found SKIDS of Southdown (now Oldcastle)
> Tropical Play Sand and bought 350lbs! :) Tonight I completely removed
> all the crushed coral and put about 180lbs of the Southdown in. I
> just finished about an hour ago so the tank is completely clouded but
> it only has two damsels (can't catch them) so I'm not too worked as
> they seem fine. I don't want to change any water yet because I'm only
> 2 weeks into the cycle so I'll just wait for it to settle and the
> filter to catch what it can.
>
> I feel that because I'm so early into this venture that its probably
> best to get on the right foot as far as substrate is concirned while I
> still can. I'd hate to establish a reef only to find that I'm
> fighting an uphill nitrate battle beacuse of poor substrate.
> Hopefully I made the right choice. From the hours and hours of
> reading I've done recently, I think I have.
>
> Now to the cloud. I have a Berlin Triple Pass Turbo skimmer that is
> "freaking out" from the silt in the water and removing gobs of brown
> foam and white water. It's turned down so it dosn't foam enough to
> overflow a 5 gal bucket while I'm asleep tonight. Perhaps it's best
> to leave it off until my canister filter packed with floss can catch
> most of the heavy silt?

[bp's aquarium alias]

On Wed, 28 Apr 2004, CapFusion wrote:

> Those cloud storm is normal. It will get heavy and settle as time pass. 4 to
>
> Man, I would like to have some Tropical Play Sand!
>
> CapFusion,...
>
HomeDepot in Raleigh had a whole pallet of it as of a week ago or so. Not
sure if it is the new stuff or the old stuff but I bought 2 more bags and
compared the bags. The new one has only 1 line added "Not recommended for
Aquariums or Traction"

-bp

[CapFusion]

"bp's aquarium alias" > wrote in message
news:Pine.LNX.4.44.0405031138420.17349-100000@Itchy...
> HomeDepot in Raleigh had a whole pallet of it as of a week ago or so. Not
> sure if it is the new stuff or the old stuff but I bought 2 more bags and
> compared the bags. The new one has only 1 line added "Not recommended for
> Aquariums or Traction"
>
> -bp

Thanks for that info.
The note or the warning message is normal.

CapFusion,...

[Dieter Kedrowitsch]

Just as an update my Southdown DSB came out great. The water is now
crystal clear and the fish look happy. I was 2 weeks into a new tank
cycle and the cycle did not restart after removing ALL the CC, as I
started reading nitrite the very next day...right on schedule. To
help keep the dust down I put a thin 20lb layer of aragonite live sand
from my LFS over the Southdown. Looks good, works great.

Also as a note I decided to add a 7lb chunk of live rock from my LFS
to give the damsels something to play around with (this made them VERY
happy) and as a bonus (I hope) got a big section of these little brown
polys that look like something from the Zerg species in the PC game
Starcraft, sort of connected to each other by some "skin" looking
stuff. I looked on the net and can't really find anything that look
like it.

I ALSO got a bunch of Aiptasia with the LR piece. :( Two pretty large
ones and a bucnh of little ones. I blasted all of them with some
boiling hot VERY strong salt water mix with a syringe I got from my
cat's vet. And they sort of _vanished_. Hopefully for good. I nailed
them pretty hard with it, making salt water ooze out of other holes in
the live rock.

AND, I also got what looks like a small soft coral. I didn't expect
it, but after being in the tank for an hour it came out of one of the
corners of the rock and retracts quickly when a damsel gets near. It
looks like a round feather blowing around in the water's current. It
seems healty so I started adding a little PhotoPlex to my tank every 2
days and I swear it's getting a little bigger. I didn't expect any of
the polpys or this to survive the 1ppm amonia and 0.25 ppm nitrite
while my tank finishes it's cycle but everything looks great after
about 4 or 5 days of being in the tank.

Any ideas on what kind of polyps and soft coral I have?

Dieter

"CapFusion" <CapFusion...@hotmail..,com> wrote in message >...
> "bp's aquarium alias" > wrote in message
> news:Pine.LNX.4.44.0405031138420.17349-100000@Itchy...
> > HomeDepot in Raleigh had a whole pallet of it as of a week ago or so. Not
> > sure if it is the new stuff or the old stuff but I bought 2 more bags and
> > compared the bags. The new one has only 1 line added "Not recommended for
> > Aquariums or Traction"
> >
> > -bp
>
> Thanks for that info.
> The note or the warning message is normal.
>
> CapFusion,...

[CapFusion]

"Dieter Kedrowitsch" > wrote in message
om...
> Just as an update my Southdown DSB came out great. The water is now
> crystal clear and the fish look happy. I was 2 weeks into a new tank
> cycle and the cycle did not restart after removing ALL the CC, as I
> started reading nitrite the very next day...right on schedule. To
> help keep the dust down I put a thin 20lb layer of aragonite live sand
> from my LFS over the Southdown. Looks good, works great.
>
> Also as a note I decided to add a 7lb chunk of live rock from my LFS
> to give the damsels something to play around with (this made them VERY
> happy) and as a bonus (I hope) got a big section of these little brown
> polys that look like something from the Zerg species in the PC game
> Starcraft, sort of connected to each other by some "skin" looking
> stuff. I looked on the net and can't really find anything that look
> like it.
>
> I ALSO got a bunch of Aiptasia with the LR piece. :( Two pretty large
> ones and a bucnh of little ones. I blasted all of them with some
> boiling hot VERY strong salt water mix with a syringe I got from my
> cat's vet. And they sort of _vanished_. Hopefully for good. I nailed
> them pretty hard with it, making salt water ooze out of other holes in
> the live rock.
>
> AND, I also got what looks like a small soft coral. I didn't expect
> it, but after being in the tank for an hour it came out of one of the
> corners of the rock and retracts quickly when a damsel gets near. It
> looks like a round feather blowing around in the water's current. It
> seems healty so I started adding a little PhotoPlex to my tank every 2
> days and I swear it's getting a little bigger. I didn't expect any of
> the polpys or this to survive the 1ppm amonia and 0.25 ppm nitrite
> while my tank finishes it's cycle but everything looks great after
> about 4 or 5 days of being in the tank.
>
> Any ideas on what kind of polyps and soft coral I have?
>
> Dieter
I am not good at ID other than a pix for me to see. Maybe someone will have
an idea on that polp you referring to. Back to the topic, your cycle is
getting along. You may need to wait abit longer for everything to settle and
get stablize. Keep on checking for water reading.

Regarding about algae or aiptasia, better if you can use the same method you
mention above but as soon you shoot those salty hot water, TRY to suck it
out fast / immediately with a pump so it will not spread to another
location.

CapFusion,...

[PaulB]

The "round feather" is almost certainly a feather duster. The only "zerg"
picture I can find looks like an eyeball.

Try this:
http://www.reefs.org/hhfaq/


"Dieter Kedrowitsch" > wrote in message
om...
> Just as an update my Southdown DSB came out great. The water is now
> crystal clear and the fish look happy. I was 2 weeks into a new tank
> cycle and the cycle did not restart after removing ALL the CC, as I
> started reading nitrite the very next day...right on schedule. To
> help keep the dust down I put a thin 20lb layer of aragonite live sand
> from my LFS over the Southdown. Looks good, works great.
>
> Also as a note I decided to add a 7lb chunk of live rock from my LFS
> to give the damsels something to play around with (this made them VERY
> happy) and as a bonus (I hope) got a big section of these little brown
> polys that look like something from the Zerg species in the PC game
> Starcraft, sort of connected to each other by some "skin" looking
> stuff. I looked on the net and can't really find anything that look
> like it.
>
> I ALSO got a bunch of Aiptasia with the LR piece. :( Two pretty large
> ones and a bucnh of little ones. I blasted all of them with some
> boiling hot VERY strong salt water mix with a syringe I got from my
> cat's vet. And they sort of _vanished_. Hopefully for good. I nailed
> them pretty hard with it, making salt water ooze out of other holes in
> the live rock.
>
> AND, I also got what looks like a small soft coral. I didn't expect
> it, but after being in the tank for an hour it came out of one of the
> corners of the rock and retracts quickly when a damsel gets near. It
> looks like a round feather blowing around in the water's current. It
> seems healty so I started adding a little PhotoPlex to my tank every 2
> days and I swear it's getting a little bigger. I didn't expect any of
> the polpys or this to survive the 1ppm amonia and 0.25 ppm nitrite
> while my tank finishes it's cycle but everything looks great after
> about 4 or 5 days of being in the tank.
>
> Any ideas on what kind of polyps and soft coral I have?
>
> Dieter
>
> "CapFusion" <CapFusion...@hotmail..,com> wrote in message
>...
> > "bp's aquarium alias" > wrote in message
> > news:Pine.LNX.4.44.0405031138420.17349-100000@Itchy...
> > > HomeDepot in Raleigh had a whole pallet of it as of a week ago or so.
Not
> > > sure if it is the new stuff or the old stuff but I bought 2 more bags
and
> > > compared the bags. The new one has only 1 line added "Not recommended
for
> > > Aquariums or Traction"
> > >
> > > -bp
> >
> > Thanks for that info.
> > The note or the warning message is normal.
> >
> > CapFusion,...
>