Changing substrate

[ldallen95219]

Hi all: I have had my 55 gal tank up now for about 4 months and was wondering if I would hurt my water parameters very much if I changed from a crushed coral substrate to sand. I have about 1 1/2 - 2 inches of crushed coral in the tank now. I was thinking of going with sand by scooping out just the front and along the sides of my tank and replacing the coral with sand. My rocks (45 lbs.) are stacked in the middle with crushed coral all around them. Since you can't really see the back (behind the rocks) just thought about replacing the front and sides. Obviously, I won't be able to get ALL the crushed coral out but most of it. I do a 10% water change bi-weekly and was thinking on my next change I could change out the coral. Any comments on this? Also, I noticed in the stores that some of the sand comes in bags which is already in water - is that good sand to use? I know it is a little more pricey but I was thinking it would help reduce the cloudiness when adding. I have about 12 fish (small) and a just a couple of corals (frogspawn and some button polyps).

[YE||0W TA|\|G]

I wouldn't take all the crushed coral out of your tank you, you will most likely stir up some bad bacteria and your water parameters will go haywire. If your planning to use sand why not just remove the live rock and then place the live sand on top of the crushed coral? Then place your LR back into the tank. If you take that route be sure to go slow otherwise your corals will be stressed from the debris in the tank.

[thegrun]

I would remove the crushed coral. I would work hard to get at the stuff in the back. I would only take out about a 1/3 at a time, in one week intervals. Use a siphon tube to pull it out and you will not stir up any (or very little) debris. Replace the sand as you go and it will repopulate itself with bacteria. I wouldn't waste money on packaged live sand, you already have live sand.

[mg426]

I removed a crushed coral substate about 5 years ago. I did it this way. I first vaccumed the CC very thoroughly to get out as much nasty stuff as I could. I did a quarter of the tank every three of four days untill the CC was as clean as I could get it. I then removed the CC and added sand. If you add sand on top of CC the CC will work its way to the top of the new substrate(or mabe better stated the sand will work its way to the bottom) in no time. This may not be the proper opr even the besr way to do things but it worked for me and nothing bad happened at all. Also be carefull when removing Substrate around LR as it can become unstable.

[Michael]

yep remove the cc, basically remove a cup a day only until its all gone, then add the sand after, ive done this myself and never had any problems, if you remove slowly you will be ok

[Toddrtrex]

I used to have CC in my 58, had it for about 6 years. I was pulling out all my live rock (( too many pests )), and in the process I pulled out the old CC bed and replaced it with sand. (( IMO, the "live" sand in bags isn't worth the money )). I did it all in one big step, didn't lose anything.

More details of the whole process is here,

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...5&pagenumber=1

[ldallen95219]

Ok, so this is what I thought about doing after reading your comments. I would really like to do this in one step if possible to get it over with.

1. Drain about 1/2 of water and put in tubs, then add the live rock to the water in the tub.

2. vacuum the coral substrate to get out most of the poop/junk and then hand scoop out the crushed coral (most of it)

3. Add the sand and then put my live rocks and live coral back in.

I will leave the fish in the tank and hopefully not stress them out too much. I have about 12 - 23 fish and think by leaving them in there it would be better than trying to catch them with a net and putting them in another tank then catch them again to put them back into the main tank.

For a 55 gallon tank, how much sand should I buy? I know I would have to rinse it well and that it will be cloudy for a few days. What is the best sand to buy (what size)?

[ldallen95219]

Sorry, I meant I only have 12-13 fish.

[Toddrtrex]

I think you might be better off putting the fish into the buckets with the old water and live rock. Never know what could be stirred up when you are removing it. Granted it has only been set up for 5 months, but better to be safe then sorry.

And after you add the new sand, I would put about half the rock back in, and then let it run over night. Mainly to let the cloudiness settle down, doubt that will effect the fish, but sure will make scaping the tank easier when you can see in it better.

[Kdocimo90]

If you dont have much complicated rockwork... I was thinking of doing what Todd had said.

1. Drain enough of the tank water into buckets to fit the livestock
2. Put all the corals, fish, liverock in the buckets/bins
3. Dump/take out all the crushed coral
4. Put in the new sand
5. Put in some of the water from the buckets
6. Put in and set up rock work
7. Add enough water for the livestock
8. Put in livestock
9. Put in rest of water.

Wow did I actually write all that?