# do i have to much substright



## angelsdice159 (Jul 2, 2011)

see my LFS help me whit my 37g sw tank.. So i took there advise whit my 125g sw tank. They said its okay to have a 3"bed. Of wat i think its called crushed corl. So i did now im hearing that all i need is adout 1" deep.(thick). So is it bad to have 3" bed?. Should i take some out. I cycled my tank for a good 6 mounths be for adding fish


----------



## Scuff (Aug 10, 2010)

That's an awful lot of crushed coral for your tank. What sort of SW tank are we talking about here? Reef? Fish only with live rock (FOWLR)? If we were talking sand, I'd say you're probably fine, but crushed coral accumulates a _lot_ of much in it over time.


----------



## angelsdice159 (Jul 2, 2011)

wow man! Well we wanna do reef. Wat i have in there now is. 2 yellow tangs,two black clowns, a sleep-go-be, a purple fire fish,a two bar rabbit fish, also a fire shrimp,and two cleaner shrimp. Wit live rock..am i over stock.the reason i ask is cuz this mourning i notice my clowns lower fin looks like its been cut up on one of them ..also one of my cleaner shrimps antannas are missing.. Oooh i also have some hermet crabs and snails.please help i only took advise from my LFS and the books ive been reading. What should i do . Thanks for helping


----------



## AZDesertRat (Apr 10, 2009)

SLOW DOWN!!!
You are way way overstocked for a 37 gallon tank and are on the quick road to disaster guaranteed. First off, Tangs should never be kept in a tank that small, they need lots of room to swim freely and will soon die. In a 37 you should only keep about 4 or 5 small fish, by that I mean at their full grown adult size the yshould still be small, tangs can get a foot long.
You need to stop now and consider what you want to keep before doing anything else. Take the tangs and poisonous rabbit fish back to the store and take your time stocking with the proper inhabitants. Clowns are good choices as are gobies, firefish and other small peaceful species.

The substrate should propably not be crushed coral, it traps detritus and will lead to nitrate and water quality problems. If its decorative stick with maybe an inch or less of coarse aragonite sand. If you want a functioning deep sand bed the 4-6" of fine aragonite sand will do the trick, I have 330 lbs of Southdown sugar sand in my 100G reef for 5-6" and its been doing great for over 7 years now. I only keep 6-7 fish in a 100G and its close to being overstocked.


----------



## angelsdice159 (Jul 2, 2011)

lol.wow. No see im talking adout my 125g tank. The only fish i have in my 37g is two black&white desmals(i think thats wat ther called). And a yellow watchmen wit a pistol shrimp thats it. Lol but in my 125g i have the other fish do u think thts over stock. And sorry i meant to say i have aragonite reef sand 1-2mm diameter i have a good 3"thick bed.. Is that bad.? Thanks for the respond thou.


----------



## AZDesertRat (Apr 10, 2009)

3" is too deep for a decorative sand bed but not deep enough for a functioning deep sand bed (DSB). If you just want it for decoration siphon or scoop some out otherwise you will have water quality problems from the food, waste and detritus build up in the sand. 3" is too shallow to support anoxic and anaerobic bacterias that consume nitrates so will not help with denitrification, it needs to be closer to 5-6" so oxygen does not penetrate down deep and the bacteria can survive.

I keep tanks both ways but prefer the functionality and looks of a deep sand bed.


----------



## angelsdice159 (Jul 2, 2011)

okay i see.. Thanks for the advise. Im going home to measure the sand. Cuz i forgot adout the sand that u cant see behind the black trim on the bottom of the tank .lol.. To see what i realy have.. But do u think my tank is over stock and if u have any more advise adout any think it would help


----------



## AZDesertRat (Apr 10, 2009)

How long has the system been up and running? How much live rock or other filtration and flow do you have? Skimmer, powerheads, lighting, cooling and heating, reactors, these things have a great deal to do with how heavy and how soon you can stock a system. You start out slowly and allow the bacteria to catch up with the increased bioload, just because a tank has completed its initial cycle its in no way ready for a heavy load. All GOOD things take time in this hobby, only BAD things happen quickly. Let the system mature and observe it and your inhabitants before adding anything more. Make sure you have gone through the cycles you will undoubtably see like algae blooms, diatom blooms, bubble lagae, aiptasia etc. Don't make fish or other inhabitants suffer if its not necessary.


----------



## angelsdice159 (Jul 2, 2011)

o okay lets see we set up the tank on 10/16/10 and added live rock slowly we put 112.50 lbs of LR. And cycled it till 6/3/11..we have three powerheads,one realy good heater,overflow box whit two.1" tubes,reef master filltration sump,returend pump rio3700 3420lph in the sump i have mineral mub.and some of that green stuff im sorry dont knw the name of it. Lighting: two 175w metal hailed 10k whit built in fans in the canopy and added fish slowly aswell.


----------



## AZDesertRat (Apr 10, 2009)

Sounds like you are doing good then.
You probably have chaetomorpha algae in the refugium or possible caulerpa algae both of which help export nitrates.


----------



## angelsdice159 (Jul 2, 2011)

thank u. So do u think im over stock in my 125g. And is the best way to get out some of the bed is to suck it up. Whit out streesing out the fishies. And can i ask u if u knw y my clowns have wat looks to be very sharp cut on the bottom of the fins looks like two cuts on both of them


----------



## AZDesertRat (Apr 10, 2009)

You are close for a 125 when you consider the adult size of the fish you have. As far as the substrate you can vacuum it out with no ill effects since it should not be deep enough to support much if any facultative or anoxic bacteria.
Clowns can be pugnatious or downright mean so cuts on the fins are common. If they are the same size they may do battle. Usually when clowns pair up and become somewhatdocile, the female is much larger than the male and they get along or at least coexist.


----------

