Tell me about replacing my sandbed

psimitry · 08/13/2007, 10:10 PM

(please?)

So I'm moving here in a couple of days. In the meantime, I happen to have about 100lbs of Carib-sea special grade reef sand that I want to put in my aquarium to replace the amalgamated crushed-coral/playground sandbed that I have now.

The sandbed is only about .75" deep, so I'm not EXTREMELY worried about the loss of bacteria (although it is an issue until the new bed gets properly seeded and whatnot).

What I AM mostly concerned about is my sand-faring critters. I have a bunch of nassarius snails, a cucumber (actually, two at this point - it split) and other assorted snails that I'd like to bring with me.

If necessary, I can replace the snails, but I'd really rather not as I'm not the type that just decides to pitch snails because it's inconvenient (and my wallet doesn't like that plan either).

Anyone have any advice as far as extracting these guys?

craab · 08/13/2007, 10:54 PM

mix the two together? Or pull out some of your current sandbed and put it in a 'culture' container with the new sand bed to seed it.

psimitry · 08/14/2007, 12:48 AM

Again, it's not the bacterial loss I'm worried about. I plan on keeping a cup of sand to seed the new bed with. I'm worried about the higher forms of life in the bed (specifically snails and how to keep them).

discocarp · 08/14/2007, 01:38 PM

Maybe you could sift the sand as you get rid of it? This would take awhile, but I think it would work. Build a simple square frame out of scrap wood and staple some gutter guard or something similar to it. Put it over a bucket and start sifting.

stanlalee · 08/14/2007, 05:07 PM

I just did this but I didn't have any crush coral. First I hand picked out as many as I could and placed them in tank water in a tuberware container. then I simply siphoned the sand out with tubing too small in diameter to suck the snails I put in the tank. an occasional nassarius vibex would make it into the tube but just being careful was enough. I plucked out what I saw. I changed mine with florida keys live sand so my skimmer went a little nuts for a day but no cycle or ill effects. the good thing about the live sand it doesn't cause the sand storm packaged sand does.

08/13/2007, 10:10 PM	#1
psimitry Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Phoenix Posts: 1,560	Tell me about replacing my sandbed (please?) So I'm moving here in a couple of days. In the meantime, I happen to have about 100lbs of Carib-sea special grade reef sand that I want to put in my aquarium to replace the amalgamated crushed-coral/playground sandbed that I have now. The sandbed is only about .75" deep, so I'm not EXTREMELY worried about the loss of bacteria (although it is an issue until the new bed gets properly seeded and whatnot). What I AM mostly concerned about is my sand-faring critters. I have a bunch of nassarius snails, a cucumber (actually, two at this point - it split) and other assorted snails that I'd like to bring with me. If necessary, I can replace the snails, but I'd really rather not as I'm not the type that just decides to pitch snails because it's inconvenient (and my wallet doesn't like that plan either). Anyone have any advice as far as extracting these guys?

08/13/2007, 10:54 PM	#2
craab Premium Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 444	mix the two together? Or pull out some of your current sandbed and put it in a 'culture' container with the new sand bed to seed it.

08/14/2007, 12:48 AM	#3
psimitry Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Phoenix Posts: 1,560	Again, it's not the bacterial loss I'm worried about. I plan on keeping a cup of sand to seed the new bed with. I'm worried about the higher forms of life in the bed (specifically snails and how to keep them).

08/14/2007, 01:38 PM	#4
discocarp Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Winter Park, FL Posts: 2,707	Maybe you could sift the sand as you get rid of it? This would take awhile, but I think it would work. Build a simple square frame out of scrap wood and staple some gutter guard or something similar to it. Put it over a bucket and start sifting.

08/14/2007, 05:07 PM	#5
stanlalee Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: hampton roads, va Posts: 1,799	I just did this but I didn't have any crush coral. First I hand picked out as many as I could and placed them in tank water in a tuberware container. then I simply siphoned the sand out with tubing too small in diameter to suck the snails I put in the tank. an occasional nassarius vibex would make it into the tube but just being careful was enough. I plucked out what I saw. I changed mine with florida keys live sand so my skimmer went a little nuts for a day but no cycle or ill effects. the good thing about the live sand it doesn't cause the sand storm packaged sand does.