Skimmer?New need advice

Yes to the first question.

Sand is darn near impossible to vacuum as far as I know.

 

Right on.I will try and get that done soon.Im assuming the sand will eventually make its way under the UGF and fill it in?Will I have to add more later when/if that happens?How deep do you reccomend on the sand?What about all of the worms and such living in the CC currently?Do I save them or put in new ones for the sand???

Thanks

 

Air bubbles do not cause the diseases the bacteria trapped in them do! and the reason I mentioned it is because it happened to me, and of all fish to a damsel, to top it all. I have nothing against bubbles, if you like them have them.

 

In my very first FOWLR in the 80's I had an undergravel filter system. I built it myself using eggcrate. To keep the sand on top of the eggcrate I used fiberglass screening. It might have been plastic, I don't remember. I used monofilament fishing line to tie it to the eggcrate so it didn't move. It took up the whole footprint of the bottom of the tank, except for the leading inch in the front, which I kept vacant so nothing but sand was visible from the front.

I know you want to keep your rockwork intact, so laying/cutting/securing screen might be near impossible. I'm sure some of the others might have an idea or two. We have some very crafty intelligent folks here.

As for the worms and such, I'd probably leave them unless you find a huge population that you think you might want to thin out. I doubt you will in a CC substrate, though.

 

Ok so I have disconnected the air diffusers and am in the process of taking down the riser tubes and blocking off the tube entry holes in the corners.So I have killed the UGF.
As for the actuall plate under my rockwork.Im thinking I will leave it in,remove as much CC from above and around it as possible and replace with sand.Im hoping the sand will fill in under the plate over time making a solid bottom.
Sound good?

Strangly enough the tank is on stand and i can see under it and there does seem to be alot of worms.

 

Oh! I didn't think of that. I assumed you meant in the CC. Cool.

 

I did mean in the CC.There are quite a few wandering around in my substrate currently.

So do you think the sand will fill in under the UG plate over time making a solid bottom?
Keep in mind i would be pulling out all the CC first.

 

Different manufacturers of UGF create their plates differently. I think they're all designed to prevent CC to drop thru, but might allow sand if the sand is dry. To my experience, once the sand is applied and the tank is full of water (as is your case), the sand doesn't freely trickle down. I beleive even over time, that for the most part, only a negligible amount of sand will penetrate. Your mileage may vary.

 

This will eat at you. You'll wish you had just done it in the beginning. you can always take a picture of your rockwork and get it arranged back.

If and when you eventually have some mysterious nitrate spike and you're trying to deduce the source, you'll have the memory of this plate in the back of your head...

 

Oh I hear you and I have allready called and verballed my friend who gave me the tank.
So many problems to fix.Im hoping I wont be living in the same place for more than another year and so I will break it down and fix it then hopefully.Untill then I will deal with it with a new skimmer and water changes.I also need to replace the fluval media.I talked to the guy who owned the tank before my friend and he only had a skimmer/no fluval.He said that between the live rock(over 20 years old) and the skimmer he only did water changes once a year and his parameters were always good.No nitrates.Just add water.I have no idea how this is possible but I have no reason to distrust him.He also said he had half CC/half sand...interesting