My Tank Shot its been awile :)

[Paul28]

Its been about a year since i posted a pick of my tank i got out of hobby for about 6 months but i kept it alive still and now i got it back the way i like it here is a shot :) Camra is crapy but you can see how everything is doing for those who rember me

http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/9212/tankh.jpg (http://img200.imageshack.us/i/tankh.jpg/)

[Gseclipse02]

i like .... its looks really good!!!

[MRSBIGBIRD123]

I love all the leathers....very nice.

[JimD]

Thats a very nice tank... About how old is that tank?

[BA]

gorgeous tank!!

[Pennies2Cents]

Great Pic... Nice setup...

[Paul28]

Thx everyone, The tank is about 4 years old and going strong

[JimD]

Quick question regarding your sandbed, is it 4 years old as well? Are you doing anything to it mainenance wise like partial removal and adding new sand? What are you using as sand stirrers/cleaners? Just wondering because I had a bad sandbed 'event' a few years back when it was right at the 5 year mark.

[Paul28]

yes my sandbed is 4 years old in this setup but it was a transfer from another aquarium. i have not added any sand i just have a dragon goby and naz snails. so what happened to your sandbed at the five year mark?

[JimD]

What happened was a horrible loss of some very expensive corals. I neglected my sandbed, didnt recharge it and got lazy and didnt replenish the sandbed fauna thinking it would run forever, in time, it became a nitrate sink and began leaching back into the system killing almost everything in about a week or two. By the time I figured it out, it was too late. IF, I were to do it again, I would replace a certain ammount of old sand with new every six months to a year or so to assure its health and make sure I had pleanty of Nassarious snails and fighting conches only. No gobies, starfish or anything that feeds on sandbed micro fauna or disturbs the lower layers of material. This has been my experience with deep sand beds, your milage may (but I doubt it) very. Ive since gone bare bottom and drasticly increased flow along with a very efficiant skimmer and Im not turning back. The tanks looks andis so much cleaner looking and is much healthier In my opinion... There ya go... lol

[Mr Cob]

Welcome back Paul...I see you have had some growth...looks great...nice corraline algae "frame"...lol

[Paul28]

Thx,Yeh feels good to be back into it im back on the saltwater crackrock again. **** so after 5 years your sand bed died ouch that hurts, like 2 inches of mine has never been moved at all the bottem layer what i do see with mine tho it is releaseing bubbles to the surface of the water so its still breaking down the amonia all the way to a gas form.

[JimD]

Just keep a close eye out for unexplained algae and unusual coral habits as you approach the 5 year mark..

[Paul28]

ummm in the last few months i have been getting the lime green color alge almost like red slime but green but not as thick as red slime i was thnking maybe a form of cyn bacteria since is does come in many colors. what were the signs that you knew your sand bed was dieing , spikes in Nitrates , protien skimmer going crazzy ?

I do know that i need to change all my t5 lights and at least 1 of the MH lights there over a year old you know icecap thay over power everything burns these bulbs out fast ,could be the problem with alge i have current good so might be my lights going bad its happen before hope its not my bed but it is on rocks to like cyn bacteria will grow. The kalk reactor with calcim Hydrox is taking care of the c02 release into the tank keeping ph at 8.3 day and 8.0 night so zero that out calc and alk perfect bal;ance no jumping in them got them perfect not my food im feeding ,not the lights on to long **** hope its not sand bed heheh :)

[JimD]

I first began experiencing Dynoflagelates then other mystery algae/bacteria that I couldnt get rid of no matter what I did, I could get it to clear up for a day or two but it would always return,., No issues with the skimmer, it was operating normaly, all levels seemed to be ok, no real symptoms other than the Dynos and algaes until I noticed that my acros began forming stringy algae on the tips, reminiscent of to much direct flow but that wasnt the case... Basicly, in the end, the system turned into a big septic tank, it smelled and just looked aweful... Removing the sandbed was a last resort, and it worked, at least for me... My tanks never looked so good...

[Paul28]

Wow almost like Red tide. Mass amonts of Dynoflagelates then as thay died off, becuse of the mass amounts of them just turned the tank into a sludge pool. Yeh that could happen to anybody ouch evolution , thx man for the info i bet that sucked for your loss dosent seem to be controlable at all its aged saltwater so best way around it would be to change out some of the sand :)

Thx Paul

[JimD]

If it were me, Id definately be looking at some sort of sandbed maintenance, especially at 4 years old... Theres certain ways to do it, you cant just yank some out and dump the new stuff in... I suggest you do some heavy research on the subject and go from there... Good luck!

[Paul28]

Thx man yeh thats what im doing right now google serching info :):):)

Thx again Paul

[JimD]

Here ya go, I read through this briefly and it seems to have most of the info youre looking for, especially concerning DSB fauna.... Note where it mentions not to use sifters guch as gobies and the like...
http://www.reef-eden.net/DSBs.htm