Rebuilding the tank

[Hanali]

Hi guys,

I am new to the group but was semi-active in the reefkeepers board a long time ago.

Anyway after a very long break from doing anything to my reef tank (6-8 months), I just got back to it.

The water is close:

Specific gravity: 1.022
Nitrate: 10-20
Nitrite: 0
PH: 8.4
Ammonia: .25

I am 3 weeks into weekly water changes of 10 gallons for a 55 gallon tank.

New lights have been installed and tomorrow another water change will happen.

Coraline is still growing other than moving around the rocks and some mushrooms are still visable. 3 Hermit crabs still live and 4 Margerita snails are still around, plus TONS of those flat shelled snails that stick on the glass alone with many white fans.

I am having a hard time getting out all the junk in the sand and there is less than there was but it still clouds up the water badly when I sift it.

Anyway to the questions....

I want to make my LR more stable... I saw some green like putty at a LFS and was wondering is this good to standardize my rock structures or are there better methods?

Also where is a good place to get some Live sand to kick start my sand bugs and so on since none of those seemed to have made it? (Bristle Worms, Co-pods - shrimp looking things, and other good cleaners)

I live in Austin, and any help would be great.

[Ram_Puppy]

I am not up to speed on the Stores in austin anymore, so I can't help you there but I wouldn't doubt that a Austin MAAST'ard would help you out with a live sand culture.

As far as the other questions - the eopxy your talking about is safe and will make your rocks more stable. I used it to attatch some coral frags once, and when I wanted to move them, I just broke it right off the rock. I am not sure it's what your looking for in peace of mind.

As far as your sand goes, if your tank crashed and your restarting it, It might behoove you to siphon out your sand bed and start a new one... that is just a thought, i would have others weigh in on that. I personally am a sand bed/dsb fan, but uif you don't keep up with them maintenance wise, they can be a time bomb.