Time to start over :o(

I don't really want more than a few inches but I keep hearing that you "DON'T TOUCH IT" or you'll get a bloom and mess up everything. Logic to my "old time" tank keeping says to vacuum the gravel often maybe with water changes, but I keep hearing "don't mess with the sand" I'm so confused now and my new tank gets here Thursday. Just when I think I have everything planed and under control something comes up to toss a wrench in the gears HELP!!!!

PS: the tank is 180 gal

 

I use 2-3 inch beds all the time.I like to slope it a little so maybe an inch in front and deeper at the back(3").Add some nassarius snails and a fighting conch and you won't have to disturb the sb very much.
My current nano has only about an inch of sand. Heres my 2 cents.
If you are going to "clean" your substrate it should be done routinely not once every three months.lol There really is no need though ime. A shallower bed is safer to disturb then a deeper one for the most part..

 

Thanks Vinny that makes sense.

 

I just recently tore and reset up my tank as well. i moved a good part of my old water in a 140 liter plastic box, tossed in about 1/3 of the live rocks i had in the old setup (after a good brushing) as well as the skimmer and filter. left the rest of my rocks in the sun for a few days to "nuke". washed the sand bed and left that in the sun for a few days too. cleaned the glass (be careful when you clean the glass that there are no little white tube worms that will rape your glass when you scrub). put the sand bed back in, seeded with a cup of live sand. put the "nuked" rock back in seeded with a few of my old rocks. put the fish back......

ISSUES: the whole process took a little over a week and with each passing day i felt more and more uncomfortable leaving my fish in the "box" so as soon as i could i put them back i did....however!!.... I may have jumped the gun, my tank is going through a cycle (as i feared) and now im fighting to keep the parameters in check till things settle down. so my advice is; if you can safly and comfortably house your fish for a month or more, the time it takes you to clean and cycle your tank i would strongly advise to do so.... it half defeats the purpose to dismantle and recreate a tank for the well being of your fish if youre going to put them in a cycling tank....

 

Absolutely Swiss.The only way it really works is if you use most of the existing lr. A small hob is also a great tool for tank transfer.And cheap!!

 

Great information! Thank you! Tomorrow is the day I bring the new tank home and start tearing down the old tank. I'll be keeping everything in 2 55 gal plastic trash cans. Every day now for the last week I've been pulling a few of the live rocks out and scrubbing them in salt water then putting them in the trash cans that I have half filled with new saltwater. When I tear down the old tank I'll top off the cans with water from the tank. I'm thinking of using a few of the original live rocks for seeding but everything else will be going to the outside rock garden The new tank will have all new sand and dry live rock except for the seeding. Vinny gave me a tip to use MicroBacter7 to help the cycle. Like you said it's going to be a little nerve racking having everything in the trash cans while I'm hooking up all the plumbing, electrical, decorations and sand etc. I hope to have the tank starting it's cycle within 3 days. With just a couple of fish and crabs in the tank after a week then every 4 or 5 days returning one of my finny friends What do you think?

 

Vinny, for us old timers not familiar with the acronyms of today What is a "hob"?

 

Hang on back filters.The idea is to run the filter for a while on the old tank then transfer it to the new one for a while.I know you said you are using airstones but powerheads of the appropriate size are preferred for long term storage.Then you do not have to worry at all.You can even use both.Fish are tough for the most part the most important thing is to make sure they can hide when you transfer any fish.A piece of pvc is great for this.Add some tees,cut a hole here, a hole there and you reduce stress on them a little.LR works fine.Put them in and leave them in a quiet enviroment if you can.Turn lights off during transfers.

 

Power heads are doable but I don't have an outside hang on filter that would fit a round trash can There will be 2 or three pieces of LR the size of a shoe box in each can. How soon would you return some soft corals to the new tank? same as fish?

 

oh yeah I also forgot to mention.... im not a believer in covering your tanks to avoid suicide jumpers, but in the case of the "box" i did place a net over it..... after all it was a sudden and more confined change in environement. so yeah, you might want to look into that too. dont use anything that will hinder gas exchange though.... just my 2 cents