Frootys RSM 130d major overhaul!

F

Frootstik

New Member
Hey guys.
I'm new to the forum, and pretty new to marine aquariums.
First off I would like to say hi! And hope to get some great info and knowledge from the forum.

Anyway, I have a rsm 130d. Have had it for about 2 years.
I starting working away not long after getting it and it's been a bit neglected. I'm back home now and want to get it going great again.
It's been taken over by morphs, and I mean taken over!
So basically I want to start from scratch, but the issue is I have fish.
I need to part with over half my live rock that's morph city!
I wouldn't mind changing the sand.
I have a Tunze 9002 on the way, with a Radion xr15w pro led light to go hoodles.
Replacing the stock pumps with Eheim 600 pumps. Also got a inTank media basket, skimmer cup and filter cover coming.

So basically I want to change the sand and remove the morphs and add more live rock. Is this ok to do with fish?

Here is my embarrassment of a tank at the moment.
 
nanoreefing4fun

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
welcomefish.gif

to ReefSanctuary, a real Sanctuary of reef forums, with lots of very nice members
745.gif


Cheers for starting a tank thread & sharing your tank with us so we can follow along, we love pics :dance: after 5 post you can add pics :)

On the sand, I would change 1/3 at a time, like 1/3 a week & you could add more dry rock, adding more LR will be more trickly, you could, but will really want to stay on top of wc & run some fresh chemical filtration like purigen & watch for any ammonia spikes that could kill your fish with a mini-cycle.
 
F

Frootstik

New Member
Because I'm stripping my tank down for the rebuild and clean, I was going to change all the sand over. Is that not a good idea?

Can I add a little bit of live rock?
And some dry base rock?
 
Joeys Tank

Joeys Tank

Well-Known Member
You can go with a combo of live and dry rock. Going to use all new sand? Is there issues with your current sand? There is a large amount of life in your sandbed.
 
F

Frootstik

New Member
Well nothing exactly wrong with it. I just wanted new stuff if I were to clean up and strip the tank down. And I wanted to add more sand also. Or can I at least clean the old sand?
Am I able to take it out of the tank to clean it up anyway? But it in a bucket with the water?

Will a small amount of live rock cause me issues? I will add a mixture of both, because I need to take a lot of rock that's covered i morphs out.
 
F

Frootstik

New Member
So here is a picture of my tank. Very embarrassed about it. But it will see better days again.
Any ideas about my issues and question would be awesome.
3343cde3e27a459bef9f50d208273457.jpg
0b47182ba72e0b8eeabf08f49e27d487.jpg
afef29b8ba03c266e5aeff46f9883cd6.jpg
 
sushi62

sushi62

Member
I don't know why you feel that way. I'm new too but to me it looks like you have a lot to work with. A little elbow grease and you're good to go.
 
F

Frootstik

New Member
I had it looking great about 12 months ago. Now I'm not so happy. Morphs have absolutely taken over everything! I only have the 2 corals, which I will part with when I start the clean up.
My biggest issue here is the sand bed. Can I swap out all my sand for new sand? That is my biggest headache at the moment.
 
Joeys Tank

Joeys Tank

Well-Known Member
Yes, you can swap out all of the sand for new sand.
Yes, you can clean/rinse your old sand and reuse it.
Yes, you can use your old sand.
You never mentioned why you are not happy with your sand, only that there is nothing wrong with it but you want new sand. Is it the algae on top? This isn't your sand but nutrient levels in your tank combined with type/amount of CUC. Replacing sand without addressing the issue most likely will lead to your sandbed looking like this down the road.

My thoughts are you have grown a large amount of organic life in your sandbed.

When you ask about a small amount of live rock, are you talking about removing some rock and leaving a small amount in there or are you wanting to add a small amount of rock to your existing? Swapping out rock, adding rock, replacing rock will affect your bioload not in the sense of you adding more to it but in the fact that you will be reducing the amount of bacteria you have to clean up ammonia and nitrites. Swapping out your sand will reduce your organic food chain which helps break down organics (both meat and vegetable matter). These will very possibly cause your tank to go through a mini cycle.

Since you are looking to strip down and rebuild your tank, set it up to where you are happy with it and then let it run its cycle. Don't rush it.

However, this may not fix the issues you are currently having with your tank. If the issue is you no longer want morphs in the tank, then you have a couple of options. 1) relocate all of your fish to a quarentine tank, have a friend or LFS hold onto them for you for about a month and pull all the rock with morphs on it and replace or 2) slowly pull out a piece of rock with morphs and replace, watch for the increase in ammonia and nitrites, when they go back to zero, pull out another piece, and repeat.

A strip down and rebuild of a tank will require cycle time.
 
F

Frootstik

New Member
Can I add more sand then if I should keep my old stuff?

I'm looking at cured live rock from my lfs. Said they will put it aside for me until I get home in 3 weeks. I can put that straight into the tank with no worries hey???
 
Joeys Tank

Joeys Tank

Well-Known Member
Less chance of things going wrong by adding cured rock? Yes. Can you put it in with no worries? I always have worries :)

You have a good plan in place. I am looking forward to seeing how it turns out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top