Rinse or not to rinse that is the Question Drysand - Page 3

Craig Manoukian · 04-12-2004, 08:42 PM

[b]I don't quarantine my fish, but I get them from the LFS and I am very particular that they have a good track record at the store. I watch them for several weeks before purchasing.[/]

fletch · 04-12-2004, 11:14 PM

Thank You Ormard for info They are a lovely critter, I think I will try to get a pair of them at the same time when my tank is ready, I also would like to get a Pair of yellow tangs at some point.

Craig, Did you ever give your fish a fresh water bath? That just don't sound like a good thing to do. What do you think?

Craig Manoukian · 04-13-2004, 03:48 AM

My personal opimion is that you always minimize stress and only use a fresh water dip if you have to. This has to be balanced out with not exposing the critters in your tank to diseases. My LFS has the same water quality as I and takes great care of their fish. The holding tanks for new fish that will be in their reef display are treated with copper. All other dsplay tanks arer treated with copper. The copper treatment plus the ability to watch the fish swim, eat, and interact with it's tank mates is a huge advantage for me.

Two yellow tangs can be pretty aggressive and might bother your firefish. Your tank is on the small side for multiple tangs. I would recommend a Yellow Eyed Kole tang over a Yellow. JMO.

fletch · 04-14-2004, 03:54 PM

Do you think that 1 Yellow tang will be OK? What fish do you have in your reef tank? I like the hippo tang also but I guess they get ich easy from what they say. They called them " Ich Magnets" in an article I was reading

Jason McKenzie · 04-14-2004, 07:11 PM

I say don't rinse. This is the thread about rinsing sand right?

The small particals in the sand (the silt) will be the first areas that life will be able to attach to. the silt will actually increase the speed at which you sand becomes Live. So I've read.

J

fletch · 04-14-2004, 11:15 PM

Well I am glad that I didn't rinse my sand then!! I can say that now!! As my water has cleared up nicely After putting filter fiber and charcoal in my wet/dry & overflow

omard · 04-15-2004, 12:24 AM

Thanks Jason, nice to hear some advantage of not rinsing sand before using (besides opportunity to watch a very "unstimulating" sand cloud in tank for days on end -

-

)

Even though all settles out nicely over time, another problem has presented itself which needs attention.

Much of that really, really fine stuff is going to wind up settling in sump. (those really fine "specks" one often sees floating in tank - stuff too fine for filter bags, etc, to catch..or slightly larger, clog up same.) - I, probably have 1/8th inch of the "flour" like "silt" sitting in bottom of my sump)

Problem is every time any thing is done in, or poured in sump, this stuff immediatly gets stirred up, and back it goes into tank, and once again, I get frustrated about my water clarity and clearness, until once again it settles back down. >

)

So, weekend chore is to turn off all pumps and give the sump a good vacuuming & scrubbing out...this stuff also to blame for pump filter clog ups, even though very hard to see..

Expect should be done every time new sand is added, or old well agitated. Guess much of it is just a normal buildup of other gritty "wastes" from rock, percipitates, etc...probably lots of good reasons to get as much out as possible..

Rgds,

Omard

fletch · 04-15-2004, 04:12 PM

So Omard I take it that if you had it to do over or if you start another system you ***(((WILL RINSE)))*** your sand first then? Do You see any benefit to not rinsing the sand?

omard · 04-15-2004, 05:23 PM

fletch,

Jason presents a good point for not rinsing on initial startup...if starting out from scratch, I probably would not - (what does a few extra days of cloudy tank matter when you are looking at couple of weeks, much likely much longer for cycle to complete) - I probably should have last go around as I was adding sand to some already existing from previous tank.

If I already have a good batch of live sand in tank, and am just adding new/replacement sand, I am going to rinse the hell out of it esp. Southdown (other commercial aquarium sand I suspect has been "pre-rinsed" just a bit anyway)

No matter what, if you do not rinse, you will eventually have to get out the finest of the fine stuff that does not settle in tank or get caught in filters...otherwise you will be looking at it in tank everytime you do some sump maintenance...

KEEP A EYE ON ANY PREFILTERS you may be using on pumps right after adding new sand! - they can clog up quick with that "floury stuff" and it may be hard to tell so from looking at from outside. Nearly had a disaster couple of weeks ago because of this, which I related in earlier posts...

OmarD

(whew - glad to see this thread back on track..it is one of the more wiggly ones I have yet tried to keep up with

)

fletch · 04-17-2004, 05:35 PM

Ormard, I know what you mean about the pre-filters mine were clogging up pretty good already ( So remind me again what the benefits are again for not rinsing )

LOL. But I do think I lean towards what Jason said about the silt. But it is a pain in the pre-filter doing it that way. But what else do you have to do while your tank is cycling.