Big Changes in my TANK

[jhale]

I'm not looking forward to this, but I will be taking apart my tank later this week.
and putting it back together right away.

There are a few reasons for this.

I want to rid the tank of acro eating flatworms.

I've been wanting to re-aquascape for a while now.

And there are some fish I need to remove.

The changes I have planned are to thin out the coral collection in my tank and hopefully make a more open and natural looking aquascape in my tank. To accomplish this I will be removing some rocks. In order to keep the bio filter strong I will be adding a DSB in the sump with some macro algae growing in the same chamber. The space the sand will be in is 12" wide x 15" long x 20" deep, this is where the overflows dump the water, so it makes for some interesting possibilities as a DSB / fuge.

I'm thinking of different things to do with the rock I now have to make it more interesting. one possibility is to make a wall of rock and eggcrate, ala masterswimmer.
I would do this on one end and have the rock work slope down from it, the other end would have just acros and clams on the bottom. I also have a giant green cap to fit in somewhere. more to come. Ideas Welcome!

 

[House of Laughter]

John,

If you need fish to be held, LMK, I have room in the facility

House

 

[Tonyscoots84]

hey J if you need any help i am off of work on thursday and could come down that day to help a good friend out...

 

[Quang]

I'm willing to get my hands wet too J...
don't think dirty now 'fellas.

 

[Dace]

jon if you need help taking it down and putting back together let me know. i'll be there

 

[jhale]

thanks guys, i'm making a ton of water now, really a ton

I'm thinking maybe friday or saturday to do the work, i'll let you all know.

Jim, I might, also i'll be ready for those wrasses anytime you can get them in.

 

[Dace]

thanks guys, i'm making a ton of water now, really a ton

I'm thinking maybe friday or saturday to do the work, i'll let you all know.

Jim, I might, also i'll be ready for those wrasses anytime you can get them in.

just let me know

 

[PalmTree]

Sounds like fun! Let me know if I can get my hands wet!

 

[jhale]

Allan your crazy, the biggest thing I need to do is to pick off all the aptasia from the rocks. so if you want to help preform some aptasia-ectomys let me know

 

[jhale]

this is the section I was thinking of placing the DSB/fuge, how deep would you make it?

 

[scarf_ace1981]

this is the section I was thinking of placing the DSB/fuge, how deep would you make it?

how deep is that??

 

[Dace]

how deep is that??

it looks like 16" to 20"
i would make it 3" to 4". you know that the flow in there should be pretty slow.also i would do something to reduce the bubbles.

 

[Deanos]

12" x 15" does not provide much surface area for a DSB. In any case, 5-6" of fine grade sand is a good start. The depth of the refugium area, however, will allow for alot of macroalgae growth.

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

No less than 4" of fine grade sand is needed to become a real DSB or else you would end up having a SSB and not having the denitrification effect of a DSB. I would go for 6" and may be more if you have a lot of water flow directly pumping down.

Agreed with Deanos that 12" x 15" is not much of a surface area for the size of your display tank.

 

[drunktank]

good to know i'm not the only one planning to reconstruct their tank

i'm going to be re doing my sump, possibly taking the sand out and going BB

 

[jhale]

it's 20" deep.
I don't think I will be removing any rock after all, just aranging it different.

So the DSB/Fuge idea would just be an added way to keep the nitrates down.

Dean and Wingo are right, If I add 6" of sand I will still have 14" for macro algae to grow. I would need to find a type that will anchor in the sand and likes high flow. there's maybe about 1000gph going through the sump.

there are not too many bubbles now, that pic is when the tank was first put up, the pipes have slimed up reducing the bubbles.

 

[PalmTree]

So no operation KILL aptasia?? :tongue1:

 

[jhale]

So no operation KILL aptasia?? :tongue1:

that's on for friday.

 

[prattreef]

Sapping my potential labor pool for Tuesday? J/K I'm not around for the weekend, but if I can help otherwise let me know. Randy

 

[jhale]

thanks Randy, want to glue some rocks together? jk, that will probably happen on friday.