25 gallon water change...

It's odd. I bought two plastic trash cans of the same size. I mix salt
water in one, and then siphon off water into the second of the same
amount. But, when I refill, I'm always 2-3 gallons short?

I spent some time vacuuming the sand. Man, it's amazing the amount of
crap (literally) that I pulled up. I'm way under my livestock limit,
but there's no lack of detritus.

Just sharing...

--Kurt

KurtG wrote:
It's odd. I bought two plastic trash cans of the same size. I mix salt
water in one, and then siphon off water into the second of the same
amount. But, when I refill, I'm always 2-3 gallons short?

Yep, that's odd, but I don't understand why you siphon water into the other can.
I just siphon mine into a drain. To make that easy, I placed one of those
stick-on thermometers on my tank with the bottom of it at the correct location
for the water level when it's 25 gallons low. I just drain water until the water
level is a little below the thermometer and pump the new stuff in.

I spent some time vacuuming the sand. Man, it's amazing the amount of
crap (literally) that I pulled up. I'm way under my livestock limit,
but there's no lack of detritus.

Yep, there's a lot. I get the impression, though, that it's not a good idea to
vacuum the sand in a reef tank. I might be wrong there.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.

Yep, that's correct, it's not good to vacuum the sand.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



George Patterson wrote on 1/6/2007 12:09 AM:
KurtG wrote:
It's odd. I bought two plastic trash cans of the same size. I mix
salt water in one, and then siphon off water into the second of the
same amount. But, when I refill, I'm always 2-3 gallons short?

Yep, that's odd, but I don't understand why you siphon water into the
other can. I just siphon mine into a drain. To make that easy, I placed
one of those stick-on thermometers on my tank with the bottom of it at
the correct location for the water level when it's 25 gallons low. I
just drain water until the water level is a little below the thermometer
and pump the new stuff in.

I spent some time vacuuming the sand. Man, it's amazing the amount of
crap (literally) that I pulled up. I'm way under my livestock limit,
but there's no lack of detritus.

Yep, there's a lot. I get the impression, though, that it's not a good
idea to vacuum the sand in a reef tank. I might be wrong there.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.

In one display I vaccume out the top layer of sand and replace it with new
stuff.
That tank always needs bright white sand though.
fussy fussy people
otherwise I leave it, messing with it destroys all me worm burrows.



"Wayne Sallee" wrote in message
nk.net...
Yep, that's correct, it's not good to vacuum the sand.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



George Patterson wrote on 1/6/2007 12:09 AM:
KurtG wrote:
It's odd. I bought two plastic trash cans of the same size. I mix salt
water in one, and then siphon off water into the second of the same
amount. But, when I refill, I'm always 2-3 gallons short?

Yep, that's odd, but I don't understand why you siphon water into the
other can. I just siphon mine into a drain. To make that easy, I placed
one of those stick-on thermometers on my tank with the bottom of it at
the correct location for the water level when it's 25 gallons low. I just
drain water until the water level is a little below the thermometer and
pump the new stuff in.

I spent some time vacuuming the sand. Man, it's amazing the amount of
crap (literally) that I pulled up. I'm way under my livestock limit,
but there's no lack of detritus.

Yep, there's a lot. I get the impression, though, that it's not a good
idea to vacuum the sand in a reef tank. I might be wrong there.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.

swarvegorilla wrote:
In one display I vaccume out the top layer of sand and replace it with new
stuff.
That tank always needs bright white sand though.
fussy fussy people
otherwise I leave it, messing with it destroys all me worm burrows.


Doesn't that cause diatom blooms? Seems you'd be stirring things up a
bit by doing that.

I just do not mess with a sand bed......Never have had any problems
with keeping it clean and white if there is sufficient clean up crew
and current.

On Mon, 05 Feb 2007 12:44:37 -0500, Add Homonym
wrote:

swarvegorilla wrote:
In one display I vaccume out the top layer of sand and replace it with new
stuff.
That tank always needs bright white sand though.
fussy fussy people
otherwise I leave it, messing with it destroys all me worm burrows.


Doesn't that cause diatom blooms? Seems you'd be stirring things up a
bit by doing that.



-------
I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!

"Add Homonym" wrote in message
...
swarvegorilla wrote:
In one display I vaccume out the top layer of sand and replace it with
new stuff.
That tank always needs bright white sand though.
fussy fussy people
otherwise I leave it, messing with it destroys all me worm burrows.


Doesn't that cause diatom blooms? Seems you'd be stirring things up a bit
by doing that.

Yea well the next week I come I can vaccume more out!
nah doesn't seem to cause blooms per say
but they do so love the brite white sand
and as long as thats what they want
to avoid drama
thats what they get
I only take the top layer
and this is one mature tank
the rest I just scrape the side with a chopstick
You don't get blooms when ya waterchange
and have a solid biological filter
:-)
if ya did I woulda quit ages ago
Swarvegorilla

PEACE FOREVER

KurtG wrote:
It's odd. I bought two plastic trash cans of the same size. I mix salt
water in one, and then siphon off water into the second of the same
amount. But, when I refill, I'm always 2-3 gallons short?



Evaporation???? I always end up adding more water back in than I remove
in both my Nano reef and all of my freshwater tanks....

My sand also tends to get mucky but my understanding is that the
substrate forms part of the "filtration" system so should be left well
alone - I do try and remove some of the more unsightly stuff that is on
the surface by hand or using a net - but don't know if I'm doing right
being very much a newbie....

Gill

My preference is to NOT vacuum the substrate in reef setups...many
beneficial organisms will be destroyed/removed. If your substrate is of a
fine material and you have good strong flow it should be of little concern
as detritus should stay in suspension long enough to either be eaten, or
removed by your filtration system - Wetwebmedia.com

Kurt, you really should read all the info on this site. It mostly all FAQ.
AND IT'S THE BEST ONE OUT THERE. Read Read Read and when you think you're
done read some more.
This is where I got 90% of my info when I started AND I STILL FREQUENT IT.

To clean the substrate in my tank, because I do have 1 or 2 dead areas.
I get my handy dandy turkey baster and blow off all the corals, rocks and
sand in the dead areas.
I place a fine filter pad in my over flow. It turns a nice shade of poop in
15 minutes.

No Vacuuming for you today !


"KurtG" wrote in message
. ..
It's odd. I bought two plastic trash cans of the same size. I mix salt
water in one, and then siphon off water into the second of the same
amount. But, when I refill, I'm always 2-3 gallons short?

I spent some time vacuuming the sand. Man, it's amazing the amount of
crap (literally) that I pulled up. I'm way under my livestock limit, but
there's no lack of detritus.

Just sharing...

--Kurt

TheRock wrote:
Kurt, you really should read all the info on this site.

Which FAQ? I haven't seen one float by. I bought "The Reef Aquarium:
Science, Art, and Technology, Vol. 3", and I'm still waiting for delivery.

I have a very thin substrate, so it's not much of a filter system.
Besides, there's plenty of material that I couldn't reach around and
behind the rocks. I'll keep it mind ...

--Kurt