The next step

[J Feez]

No thank's for your input there Tim. Everything you said I have been considering. I think I would really like to move to a sand substrate, but do you know of a good way to put it in there without clouding the water for a week?

[christyf5]

Originally Posted by J Feez

I will put all available funds towards some LR then!

I have been told that I should look at getting rid of the mechanical filtration, however, I don't have a sump. Is that going to make it a problem? And to be honest with you I don't know all that much about the sump system and how it works and even how easy it would be to add one to my set-up.

Whereabouts in Nanaimo do you live? I lived there for 9 years.

I live in Scarewood (Harewood) near Malaspina College.


The mechanical filtration is fine, I just think that after you get more rock you won't need it. Plus the weekly cleaning and such will become a chore.

Theres nothing wrong with buying used. I have hardly bought anything new, I've just upgraded when something better used came available. Money is tight in this hobby and quite frankly I need it for more corals
Your lighting seems fine, but remember you'll be restricted to lower light corals but theres plenty of great tanks out there that aren't lit with blinding lights

[J Feez]

Sorry the weekly cleaning of the filter? Or the weekly cleaning of the tank because there is no filter?

It's like I'm talking on msn right now haha

[muck]

How about a pic or two to show us what you got so far?

[christyf5]

Well I've never had a mechanical filter on my tank before but they get filled with crud pretty quickly. All that crud makes a happy home for bacteria which in turn produce nitrates which affect your water quality for both fish and corals. In order to get that out of there I would imagine you'd have to clean it pretty often, whether it would be every week or every two weeks I'm not sure.

[Kabong]

I dont think there's any easy way to swap out for sand, But its defintlay better to do it now rather then later.
The two ways that ive heard off are

1. Bomber bags:
Turn off your power heads,
pre wet some sand, place it in a sandwich bag place,
open the bag at the bottom of your tank and slowly pull the bag up until all the sand come's out.

2. Sand syphon. (works best when doing water change)
Take a gallon of water out off the tank into a bucket.
Add sand to the bucket and let it settle over nite.
Syphon the sand into the bottom of your tank.

Both ways are going to be messy and should be done in stages.
Most reef life can handle sand getting kicked around anyway. It happens every time there a storm.

[Kabong]

I run mechanical filtration on my nano and yeah i clean the sponge weekly.
But time frame whould all be relative to your bioload.

[J Feez]

So I guess the best thing to do would be to keep running the filter right now until I get all the LR and then get rid of it? Or could I get rid of the filter now?

I'm just uploading some pics right now

[danny zubot]

As far as fluvals are concerned, what I've done in the past is run only carbon and bio balls or live rock in them. It significantly cuts down on the nitrate, and increases the flow through the filter for your carbon to utilize.

As far as your light is concerned, 96 watt Pc's will keep some anemone's happy. Considering that light is only one way for an anemone to feed, you'll have to have a regular regiment of feeding the anemone. I've kept Condalactis and BTA's under about 100 watts of light, but thats me. I'd continue to research this topic befor jumping in.

Another alternative for your sandbed is to go bare bottom. It seems to becoming more popular and has even tempted me (die hard SB supporter) to ditch my sand from time to time. I think that crushed coral is only good for FOWLR tanks. (fish only with live rock)

[J Feez]

So if I ditch the canister filter (eheim) and go with a hang off the back filter and use some carbon in there?

(Sorry if I'm asking so many questions, but I just have so many! )