Swapping CC to DSB - Advice

Marvin

Marvin

MyPetPugMilo
Dec 17, 2003
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Irvine, CA
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Ok, i want to go ahead and change to a DSB. Please tell me if this sounds like a good plan.

I have a 37g tall FOWLR.
35lbs of LR
20lbs of CC
2 clowns
1 powder blue
1 yellow tang
1 golden head sleeper goby

Plan:

Remove all contents (LR, Fish, and water) of 37g tank into a large plastic storage bin. Also add heater and air stone for aeration.

Remove and place CC into perforated bag that came w/ HD sand.

Place HD sand into tank, top w/ 10lbs aragonite, then add water. Heat with heater.

Place LR and Fish back into tank when sand settles.

Questions:

1. Will sand settle in 12 hours or less? I don't want to keep fish in the storage bin for long.

2. Will fish be ok in storage bin?

3. Anything im doing very bad?

Hopefully want to remove everything at night and be able to place them back in the morning.
 
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Fish will be fine. You can take measures to reduce the amount of sand storm you get--don't pour the water in, but use a siphon tube, or place a large plate and pour onto that. If the sand is never forced into the water column, it will settle pretty quickly. You don't have to wait for it to be crystal clear before putting the fish back ineither--just mostly clear. Otherwise, sounds good. Make sure you can cover the tub--fish are prone to jumping when in new environments.
 
Make sure you rinse the aragonite before you put it in.

I didn't, and I had a terrible time with dust and this weird scum on my water. It eventually settled down...but I think it's better to rinse to begin with.
 
Originally posted by rica5tully
Make sure you rinse the aragonite before you put it in.

I didn't, and I had a terrible time with dust and this weird scum on my water. It eventually settled down...but I think it's better to rinse to begin with.
Click to expand...

hmm forgive me for saying this, but from what i have seen and read, its better not to rinse the sand first, as the little dust particals are a big part of a DSB. Please put me right if i am wrong, i would hate to give false advice, btw here is a great artical all about DSB's


DSB
 
I don't think rinsing is needed--as long as you are careful when pouring the water in. The smaller particles really are very vaulable, so rinsing them away reduces the efficiency of the DSB. It still works, but you've lost a lot of the particle variation that's so valuable.
 
I have this idea on keeping the sand from going everywhere.

My tank is about 24 w x 16 d.

I was planning on putting a piece of glass or acrylic about the size of 22 x 14 on top of the dsb. Pour water in then remove glass layer. Hope this will work so i can get my fish back in asap.
 
Should work fine. Others have used a large, clean plastic trash bag with success as well. I've filled several tanks with a bowl or plate in the middle and never had a problem.
 
O.K. sorry about the bad rinsing advice. For those of you who set me straight on that...

I have trouble with dust on my rocks, heater, tank sides, etc....

Is that a problem? Could dust in the water be killing fish?

My heater has a white crust on it. Is that from the salt in the water? Is it natural? Or is it the dust?
 
Dust--from what? There are lots of things that will leave deposits on the rock, and other than directing water flow to move it around, there isn't much to do about it. Heck--I have 3 tiny chunks of rock in my 10, and have seen evidence of something--all over the rock.

It usually isn't a problem--other critters keep breaking it down until the bacteria get rid of it.

White crustiness on the heater sounds more like calcium precipitate than anything else--what are your levels (calcium and alk)?
 
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