ejamsrhere
06/06/2005, 12:22 PM
Well, finally did it. I spent all day yesterday pulling out the sand in my tank.
I'll start with a warning to anyone about to do the same - make sure you're careful about your back. You certainly spend a lot of time leaned over the tank lifting a good amount of weight.
That being said, the process really wasn't bad at all. It took the better part of a day... ok, lets be honest. It took all day - from waking up to passing out. I did have to run several quick errands to pick up more water and get some epoxy, but it is a long days work for sure. I read posts where it was warned to mix more water than you think you could possibly need and they are right on. I mixed 50g thinking it would be enough. I ended up mixing up another 25g on the fly. I suppose I didn't expect my sand bed to really take up 25g.
It is amazing how much larger the tank looks now without the 4-5" sand bed in there.
Now that I'm finished, I do have a couple questions for all the BB guru's. As I put my rock back in the tank I started to notice that I have alot of Rock. Possibly too much. I see pics of Bombers tank and the rockwork is very simple and open. I currently have way too much rock to do anything that open. I really think that an open rockwork is great for flow and for being able to get out anything on the starboard. So is the less is more approach to LR the way to go with BB?
Also, I was wondering how often you blow off your LR. I couldn't believe how fast the three buckets I was using to rinse off my LR got filled with gunk when I was pulling the rock out of the tank. I was really glad that I did it.
One more hat tip to bomber for a constant souce of insperation. I will try to get some pictures over the next few days. Thanks-
I'll start with a warning to anyone about to do the same - make sure you're careful about your back. You certainly spend a lot of time leaned over the tank lifting a good amount of weight.
That being said, the process really wasn't bad at all. It took the better part of a day... ok, lets be honest. It took all day - from waking up to passing out. I did have to run several quick errands to pick up more water and get some epoxy, but it is a long days work for sure. I read posts where it was warned to mix more water than you think you could possibly need and they are right on. I mixed 50g thinking it would be enough. I ended up mixing up another 25g on the fly. I suppose I didn't expect my sand bed to really take up 25g.
It is amazing how much larger the tank looks now without the 4-5" sand bed in there.
Now that I'm finished, I do have a couple questions for all the BB guru's. As I put my rock back in the tank I started to notice that I have alot of Rock. Possibly too much. I see pics of Bombers tank and the rockwork is very simple and open. I currently have way too much rock to do anything that open. I really think that an open rockwork is great for flow and for being able to get out anything on the starboard. So is the less is more approach to LR the way to go with BB?
Also, I was wondering how often you blow off your LR. I couldn't believe how fast the three buckets I was using to rinse off my LR got filled with gunk when I was pulling the rock out of the tank. I was really glad that I did it.
One more hat tip to bomber for a constant souce of insperation. I will try to get some pictures over the next few days. Thanks-