Thinking of going BB. Need guidance please!

Chad · #1 02-17-2006, 07:07 PM

After going BB I cannot say how much I love it. So clean, no headaches. And I do it WITHOUT a skimmer. Which apparently is pretty hard they say? But I have no issues. My rocks shed quite a bit still. So you need to siphon the ditrius alot. Otherwise, its been rock solid steady. No algae blooms, no cyano. Its been a dream to run. I may make a small dam, 3 - 4 inches wide from the front so I can put a sandbed in for sand loving fish, but thats about it.. if I do it, I will be cleaning the sand every water change for sure.

OCDP · #2 02-17-2006, 07:41 PM

Thanks for the comments guys.

Willow: Do you mean vacuum it out then put a micron bag inside the tank to collect floating junk?

Reef_Raf: Thanks for the advice.. I'll make sure to watch the rocks. Last thing I need is my rockwork toppling down.

Asmodeus: Glad to hear your enjoying the BB experience. I hope mine goes well.. if I decide to go through with it of course.

Chad: Glad to hear your enjoying your BB experience as well

I will be runing a skimmer if I go BB.. I think my SPS will do better this way.

I am still wondering if a Yellow Watchman can live in a tank without a sandbed

I really hope so, as this is something I would like to try. Anyone have any input?

Chin_Lee · #3 02-17-2006, 07:49 PM

use a rigid tube connected to flex tube to do your water changes. while siphoning, suck out the sand. after a number of water changes, you should start to see some glass depending on the thickness of your sandbed.
I am not posting to argue either way but i would recommend bb and thats what i'm in the process of doing with my tank. IMO sand just hides the crap we don't want to see nor do we want to believe exists in our tanks.

BTW- brads advice is good because i found my rocks have been shifting as i vacuum more and more sand with each water change.

i don't really see the need to put starboard on the bottom although i would consider a layer of acrylic. Also consider the faux pas sand bed as noted on this tread in RC with various options
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=392144

Quote:

Originally Posted by OCDP

Thanks for the comments guys.

Willow: Do you mean vacuum it out then put a micron bag inside the tank to collect floating junk?

Reef_Raf: Thanks for the advice.. I'll make sure to watch the rocks. Last thing I need is my rockwork toppling down.

Asmodeus: Glad to hear your enjoying the BB experience. I hope mine goes well.. if I decide to go through with it of course.

Chad: Glad to hear your enjoying your BB experience as well

I will be runing a skimmer if I go BB.. I think my SPS will do better this way.

I am still wondering if a Yellow Watchman can live in a tank without a sandbed

I really hope so, as this is something I would like to try. Anyone have any input?

OCDP · #4 02-17-2006, 07:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chin_Lee

IMO sand just hides the crap we don't want to see nor do we want to believe exists in our tanks.

This has been my point of view on sand now. And after a quick turkey basting on my sand bed yesterday, and seeing the clouds of ..... crap coming up just made me think of whats being trapped down there.

At the same time, I feel bad taking out the sand... I'll be killing off a lot of slugs and worms this way.

Lastly Chin, your link did not work for me, and I am a bit slow.. I don't understand your siphon method. Either way, I am sure I can put two and two together and figure it out ! Thanks a lot.

Last question still remains... can a YWG live and thrive without a sandbed?

Chin_Lee · #5 02-17-2006, 09:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OCDP

This has been my point of view on sand now. And after a quick turkey basting on my sand bed yesterday, and seeing the clouds of ..... crap coming up just made me think of whats being trapped down there.

At the same time, I feel bad taking out the sand... I'll be killing off a lot of slugs and worms this way.

Lastly Chin, your link did not work for me, and I am a bit slow.. I don't understand your siphon method. Either way, I am sure I can put two and two together and figure it out ! Thanks a lot.

Last question still remains... can a YWG live and thrive without a sandbed?

try the link now http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=392144&goto=newpost

when you siphon water, stick the end of the hose into the sand and it will suck up sand and water at the same time

i have a ywg in my sump that has a 4" dsb. he refuses to stay in the sand area and aways ends up in the other side of the sump without sand. it has been living there for about a year and will eat any left over foods that get into that area. i'm always expecting to find a dead YWG but its been a year and its still there. so as far as my fish is concern, it doesn't need sand but others may contradict this.

if you have fish that needs sand to bury into (wrasse) put a small 2-3" shallow container of sand under the rockwork where it will eventually find it and use it.

adidas · #6 02-18-2006, 01:11 AM

To switch to BB I would just take all water and everything out, and then empty out the sand.

IMO if you try and suck the sand out, it can bring up a lot of old detrius and what not and could cause a spike.

Willito · #7 02-18-2006, 01:56 AM

In your case, since it's only a 20g, I wouldn't hesitate to empty the tank out and start from scratch. If you're prepared and have everything ready, I can't see why it couldn't be done within a couple hours. What I would do:
1. siphon out as much water as you need to house the livestock temporary
2. transfer your livestock over
3. siphon the rest out into another container to be reuse
4. remove the sand
5. scrub down your tank (optional)
6. rebuild your reef

I have a BB fish only with about 70lb of liverock sitting on 1/4" glass and it seem do be doing just fine. The bottom is completely covered in coraline and it blends in very well the the rocks. IF you can carefully place your rocks in a secure manner I wouldn't bother with any other media on the bottom.

Chad · #8 02-17-2006, 08:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OCDP

Thanks for the comments guys.

Chad: Glad to hear your enjoying your BB experience as well

I will be runing a skimmer if I go BB.. I think my SPS will do better this way.

I agree, a skimmer is important. However, I have not had time to install my sump and my big becket skimmer yet. I may just get a AquaC or something in the meantime.

No idea on the YWG. But I would say it would put some stress on him at the very least. I had a Checkerboard Wrasse that buries himself in the sand at night etc. Well when I went BB he was burying himself into a ball of Cheato I had in the main tank. It was a sad sight. I no longer have him because of the lack of sandbed.

OCDP · #9 02-17-2006, 08:20 PM

That's too bad about your wrasse Chad. I don't want to put any stress on him.. I guess I may need to remove him if I really want to do this. I'll try over at RC and see what they have to say about YWG's and sandbeds.

untamed · #10 02-17-2006, 08:26 PM

I was forced to remove the sand bed from my sump because I over-kalked and it had solidified! (nothing in the sump to turn over the sand..)

Anyway, I simply vaccuumed the sand out using a rubber hose....(and lifted the solid lumps out by hand!) While you suck out sand, you'll also suck out a lot of nasty stuff. IMO, there is no way that you could return that vaccuumed water to the system.

Just do a little bit at a time. In my case, I would remove 2 gallons of sand/water, then replace with 2 gallons of fresh SW. I did that once per week and it took about 6-8 weeks to remove all the sand.

As usual, the #1 rule is not to do anything too fast!