Gravel

[dawhits]

I have been having nitrate problems for the last couple months and I have been reading, and found out that it might have been the gravel. the tank was bought with brand new gravel in the tank already, and I didn't do any reading about gravel vs. sand and gravel being bad. Since then I have done some reading and found that the gravel is a big no no for marine tanks. I think I am going to add sand, but I have some questions, first it is a 55g tank, I'm kind of tight for money right now becuase I am saving for the rest of my liverock to buy, unless this is more important than the lr then I will. Also the tank has been set up for 8months so will it be ok if I ad mostly not live sand it will come to live soon right? I will still add some livesand from the lfs, which I was gonna do anyways to put in my hang on back filter which has lr rubble in it right now.
-Erik
p.s. sorry if this doesn't make sense, i always type these things and then wonder if wat i said makes sense

 

[Aquascaper]

IMO getting rid of the gravel should be a priority.

If the tanks been running 8 months with the live rock that's in it then it is sufficiently stable to start changing the substrate. Aragonite based substrates will help to buffer pH as well as being better for micro-organisms and sand sifters to work through. Don't bother with live sand as any substrate will become 'live' given time and as your tanks is 8 months old this shouldn't take long at all.

 

[N1z]

isnt there a sand thats like called calcium plus or summit, cos when i do sand im guna just get normal sand or nice light silver sand i hate my crush coral stuff worst thing ever, it goes green some places

 

[dawhits]

Ok, So if I want to have a dsb effect, of about 3 inches my tank is 55g, 4ft long about how much sand would I need? Also, I had a local cold water puget sound tank for a while with sand in it, I still have the sand from that, its about half a 5g bucket full, can I use that? or should I buy all new sand. Also are there any particular brands that work the best?
-erik

 

[steelhealr]

You'd need 4 inches, not 3 and I wouldn't use Puget sound...you'd want aragonite if possible if it is going in your tank. If you did a remote DSB, RDSB, you might be able to use that stuff. I'd always stick with aragonite tho'. HOWEVER, IMO, I'd prefer a sump with chaeto over a DSB. JMO. SH

 

[dawhits]

I bought 40lbs of natures ocean natural marine substrate today, it was the only thing they had besides sugar sand and the lady at the lfs said this would be better for me tank than that. While I was taking the old stuff otu I found lots of interesting things, a lot of pods and nassarius snails, I tried to save as many snails as i could but there will still be some losses. I also found a worm like thing that is about 3 or 4 cm long about a cm thick, with a soft point on one end and a long tube like thing on the other end which had little hairs like feather dusters coming out of it and then back in. the tube part stretched and contracted and was like it was filtering it. any ideas on what it is? I will try to get a picture up soon.
-erik

 

[SkiFletch]

Was it red or brownish in color? Maybe a bristle worm

 

[dawhits]

no it was offwhite colored and didn't look like a brisleworm, the bigger part almost looked like the enclosed tube of a small anemone from around here but then it had a long soft tube that would extend through the water lookin for stuff then the end part would come out and that looked like a small feather duster and then it closed and the tube contracted. I could see black things inside of it, digested food maybe,?
-Erik