UG filter Removed

[jinenon]

Ok guys. Im a little concerened about the nitrogen cycle now.
I now have all inhabitants and live rock in a 20 gallon tank and everything is doing fine. I put a powerhead in there for circulation. I removed the ug filter and almost all the dolomite and crushed coral from the 55. Im running my OTB filter to clear the water right now. However im concerned that i have disrupted the nitrogen cycle and the 55 will have to cycle again. Any thoughts on that??
I think i am gonna go ahead and put a couple bags of sand in the 55 for the substrate tomorrow. Are there different kinds you can purchase? If so can ya guys give me some input?
I have also been looking on ebay at skimmers and it looks like there are quite a few good deals on there. is the gph the most important thing to look for regarding the skimmers? If not fill me in on what i need to look for. Thanks guys.
Jesse

[FragOutpost]

Your tank will go through little bit of a cycle again as the sand becomes seeded with bacteria but I would not worry about it too much. You will just have to let it run its course although I do not think that you will have too many problems. I think that adding sand to your tank is a good choice. Stay away from silica based sand and use something that is aragonite based. I use a mix a 70/30 mix of aragonite and fine white sugar sand. What kind of skimmers have you seen on ebay? When it comes to skimmer it is best to look up the reviews that people have left on sites like marinedepot or search some of the popular forums. Unless someone has used that particular type of skimmer before it will be difficult to get accurate feedback on that particular product. I have only used sealife systems skimmers before because they are relatively cheap, available everywhere locally, and easy to modify for better performance. But my next skimmer will definitely not be a sealife systems skimmer.

[jinenon]

Is there any particular amount of sand i should get/not go over. Im thinking i am just gonna shoot for about an inch on the bottom. Just enough to cover the glass.

[jinenon]

this is one that i was looking at on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Jebo-Reef-Style-Protein-Skimmer-180-with-Power-Head_W0QQitemZ7766171592QQcategoryZ46313QQrdZ1QQcm dZViewItem

[Symbiosis]

From what iv'e heard, Jebo's are a good entry level skimmer simply because they aren't overpriced for what you get. I thought about getting one, but knew that I would have a high bio load later and didn't want to spend more money buying a different skimmer later. I think for the price its worth giving a chance. I'd love to see some pics if and when you get it up and running as well as your impressions on its performance.

As for sand, I would just get fine aragonite. 2 to 2 1/2 fifteen pund bags of caribsea aragamax sand should give you about an inch in a 55 gallon. Probably won't even take that much. Let's see what the calculator says... according to this, about 30lbs of sand. You can get aragamax from Petsmart for $18 for 15lbs. Might try your other LFS for 30lb bags which should be a little less expensive. The best thing about aragamax is its buffering ability that you won't get with silicate based sands.

[jinenon]

Thanks sym. Thats what i'll do right now then since no one has said to do otherwise.

[Teeka01]

I can tell you having all fine sand is the pits. I have it. It blows around the tank alot. If I had it to do over I would get sand that is a little bigger.

[jinenon]

Thanks for the input teeka but its already a done deal lol. Yesterday i bought 2-15lbs bags of caribsea aragamax and 1-15lbs bag of aragalive wet sand. I rinsed the aragamax (evidently not good enough) and put it in on top of the aragalive. It was the perfect amount but i have been filtering the dust for about 15 hours and at 5pm i was able to see the back of the tank. I have alot of dust resting on the top of the sand. What is the best way to get that crude off the top without removing sand with it? i used a sock over the vaccum after i removed the dolomite and ug filter and that saved alot of water for me but i dont know what to do to remove that sludge on the sand.
Other than that, my livestock tank is doing very well and even my frags are doing great so im pretty happy over all. Comments and suggestions welcomed!
Jesse

[FragOutpost]

Glad to see that you decided to go with the sand. You could use some vinyl tubing to siphon the sand and as long as you are careful and go slow you will probably not remove too much of the sand.

[jinenon]

thats was my main idea i was pondering. maybe even puttin pantyhose over the larger end of my vaccum but i dont know if it will be large enough to allow the dust thru. Either way i will get it ready tonight. That brings me to my next question, how soon can i start adding my live rock back to the 55? Will that dust bother the live rock? Im just really anxious cuz even now the tank is looking awesome.

[FragOutpost]

I would start adding the liverock as soon as the dust cloud settles. The bacteria in the rock will help to seed the sand. If any of the dust settles back onto the rocks then just use a turkey baster to blow them off.