DSB-ORO-S.O.S!!

[Pretender]

I'm new and am I glad I found this place.O.k. enough about me.lol
I've been reading your answers about filtration and see that Deep sand bed is the best way to go .
Problems: I don't know where,what kind,and how much sand to get.
2.I currently have crushed corral and Under ground gravel filtration.20lbs of live rock ,a duarf lion,2 clown,damsil,and 4 H. crabs in a 55g.
Will doing this be fesible?
And lastly ,I got an Orp monitor on Ebay thinking it was a Ph monitor.What the heck does it do? It got no guidlines or instuctions.

P.s.Mr.robert if your out there,I was blown away by your 55g. tank.I din't know that kind of beauty could be possible in a55 gallon .Thats what I want.

[Alf]

[quote]Originally posted by Pretender:
<strong>I'm new and am I glad I found this place.O.k. enough about me.lol

We are also Glad you found us. You will find more nad better info. on BB's like thos one than you ever will at most of your LFS.

I've been reading your answers about filtration and see that Deep sand bed is the best way to go .
Problems: I don't know where,what kind,and how much sand to get.

You should be able to find sand at any LFS that carries Marine fish and Corals. You want a good arganite sand. If your local home Depot Carries Southdown Tropical plays sand Or Yard Right you can use it, it is the same thing in a cheaper bag then the LFS.
You will want to seed this bed with live bacteria and criiters. You can do this in several ways. I go to my LFS and where they cure there rock in a sand bed tank i get them to sell me some of the gunk off the bottom of the tank and seed mine. Or you can go to places like ISPF or Garf they sale sand bed infuna kits to kick it off. It's npt just good enough to have DSB but you also want it to be a LIVE DSB. As for how much that will depend on the size bed you want 3" to 6" is best. Oce you decide how deep you want it, let me know and i can get you the calculations in LBS. I just need demintions of Tank. IE: 48"x12" x 20" standard 55 GAL.

2.I currently have crushed corral and Under ground gravel filtration.20lbs of live rock ,a duarf lion,2 clown,damsil,and 4 H. crabs in a 55g.
Will doing this be fesible?

First things first Yes this can be done as I my self started out with a CC bed and a UGF filter In 55 gal. You can do this in one day with no problems for live stock. I can give you a complete system to do this in one day with minimal disruption to the ecosystem.

And lastly ,I got an Orp monitor on Ebay thinking it was a Ph monitor.What the heck does it do? It got no guidlines or instuctions.

I have to be honert I have seen them, heard of people using them. But I have no Idea what they do for I have never used one, But i'll check around at a couple of places and let you know what i come up with.

P.s.Mr.robert if your out there,I was blown away by your 55g. tank.I din't know that kind of beauty could be possible in a55 gallon .Thats what I want.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Thanks I'm Glad you liked it. This tank was my very first tank. I still have my very first coral I put in there. My wife loved the tanks so much that when i bought my new 120 gal to upgrade that tank she wouldn't let me. She made me tear it down a move it to the bed room :D

I do have a few questions though. Are you going to run a sump on this sytem? are you going to use a Protine Skimmer? I do suggest that you dump the UGF when you change the bed. And I also recommend that you establish more live rock at least another 35lbs or so. this will aid in a better bio system.

[ February 10, 2002: Message edited by: Alf ]

[ February 10, 2002: Message edited by: Alf ]</p>

[Pretender]

Alf you R the coolest !!
Thanks for the sand info. that info. by itself is pure gold.
Lets go w/ 6" sand bed . My tank is a standard 55gal ,the kind U buy at Pets Mart.Yes please show me your complete UGF removel system.
So you started w/ C.C. cool. lol .I feel better about myself knowing that.
Yeah that ORP thing was a waste of money along w/ alot of other crap I bought
I have a wet/dry sump and a protein skimmer.I olso have JBJ LIGHTING.and finally yes as soon as the sand bed is squared away, I'm getting the live roc.
Hope to hear from U soon Robert.

[Alf]

yea we all make our share of mistakes. :D
Ok standard 55 Gal is the same as mine. For 5" deep sand bed you will need 150lbs of sand. for 6" DSB then you will need 180lbs of sand.
This what i did it worked like a charm and no ammo spike when i was done. here go's.

First off you will need a con't for water. You want to save all the water you can. I would also have some freash salt water on hand because you will loose some in the transfer. I used a 44 gal trash can but you can use 5 gal buckets what ever is handy. First remove the live rock put it in your water storage con't and then fill with the tanks water. as you are removing water start to remove your critters to a holding con't as well. Put you heater from the tank, in your critter holder so you don't lose temp. once all critters and rock are removed, dig the CC around one of the corners so that you expose the glass bottom. Syphon the rest of your water from this corner. Just use a syphon hose to do this as gravity will allow you to syphon almost all your water.
Now you need to remove your CC. I used a Dust pan for this. Now once the CC bed is removed you will see a lot of gunk in the bottom. remove all of it and remaining water. Throw the ramining water out as it will con't a lot of ammonia that was in the bottom of the CC bed.

Now comes the easy part puting every thing in. You want to dump your sand in with no water in the tank. ( this is just a suggestion. this part is not nesessary. this is optional. but this is what I do for a tank with 6" DSB. Tank 1.5" Pvc cut into 3 inch lenghts and drill holes in them in diffrent spots to allow sand to get in them. I used 1/2" holes. Standard wood drill bit will do the job. I would say i used about 20 of these in my 55 gal. Take these and place them in the tank on the glass bottom before you add the sand. Once the PVC is in place take a sheet of EGG crate. you can get it at any Home Depot Or lowes. For about 4.00 in the lighting section It is used for light defussion. Cut to fit the tank leave about 1.5" all the way around the front and sides so you don't see it against the glass. The purpose of this is to allow your live rock to sit on this so your fish and critters can not cause a rock slide.) Now put all you sand in. Cover the sand with a trash bag, from glass to glass. Have some one hold the plastic bag down for you while you add the water. this will keep from stiring up the sand. Once all the water is in, remove plastic bag. Add rock and critters, equip and turn the system back on. There will be no sand cloud if you follow these instruction. If you don't use the plastic bag on top of the sand you will get a terrible sand cloud that will take days to clear.
Your live rock and sand are your filtration now. also if i may make a suggestion. With the W/D filter if it still has Bio balls in it I would remove these 25% at a time over 4 weeks. This will allow your bio filter to move to the live rock and sand. the W/D filter will cause Nitrates later on. So your live rock, sand and Skimmer will be your only filtration. And it is all you need.

That is it any questions or concerns let me know add i'll get them straight for you.HTH and good luck.

[Pretender]

Alf...... whats a PVC?

[Pretender]

Alf I drove 48miles 2 home depot and they didn't know what the heck I was talking about and frankly neither did I.I think I ended up buying cement sand.So I went 2 the fish store to get the sand thier........it was closed. I drove 48mi. for cement .I give up.This is too much for me. I can't do it.

[Alf]

Well if i had to drive 48 miles( which i do if i'm at home) to get some where call first. PVC is plumers pipe like under your sink. Sorry you had such a bad time. Sorry to here that your giving up. Good luck.

[Pretender]

Guy at Home depot never heard of egg crate.I don't own a drill for Pvc. Is there another way?
I really feel lost.

[Alf]

As I stated before, The sturcture I gave you is purely optional. I do this for better support. There is no reason why you can't just dump the sand in and put the rock in on top. Just stay a way from digging critters because of rock slides. My moto is Keep It simple!!!

But just fyi Egg creat is sold in the lighting section. It is a light diffuser. I can e-mail you a pick of it if you like. I'm sure i got some laying around some where. It will have to wait till the weekend when i have time to take one.
PVC can be drilled with any Wood drill bit. But this is only optional.