How should I change my substrate?

[JaredSD]

Hello ppl, I am changing my substrate from CC to CaribSea Aragonite Special Grade Reef Sand. Should I take out my fish and change it in setting, or should do it in two or three? I have live rock, so I will have to take it out to change the sand, I think. I am kind of impatient and I want to do it at one time, but let me know if this is a bad idea. Thank you for your time!

[reeferman06]

I did the samething, from CC to sand, What you have to do is change in 4 different stages a quater at atime! you dont have to take anthing out, just move evrything to the opposite side of the one you are working on. and once you get to the last 2 section then you just transfer sides, you tank will look like crap during this process, but will look great in the end! by changing it in sections, you give the old sand time to seed the new sand slowly, which cuts out the cycling stage! I changed 1 section(quater) every sunday for 1 month, and did not lose anything in my reef. good luck

[HornetMech242]

I just drained my tank into a tub and put the HOB skimmer on the tub then put all the rock and animals in it. Drained the water that did not fit in the tub and cleaned the tank really good. Put in new sand with two cups of old and put everything back in. I had no loss nor did I start a mini cycle. I think doing it a section at a time drags out the process and puts more needless stress on the animals from being moved over and over. And this was from CC to a sand bed.

I don't understand how you say it minimizes the cycle stage. How is it minimizing it when you are digging into the substrate and releasing stored nutrients with the animals still in there? And you recommend to do that four times.

Chris

[lllosingit]

I would remove all the fish, live rock and anything else alive and place it in a Rubbermaid tub of something similar, save as much water as you can, Then empty the rest of the water remove the old sand and clean the tank or anything else you need to do to get it ready for the new sand...... Now here is the best advice I can give, it will save you so much time and trouble and your tank will look much better faster, It's called the plate trick.
Put the new sand in the tank dry, don't rinse it or anything. Level it out the way you want it, Now place a plain old dinner plate on the sand, now when you put water in the tank just go slow and aim for the plate, It will keep the incoming water from stirring up a dust storm. I would add as much of the original water as possible it doesn't contain any bacteria but it is more stable than freshly mixed. Fill the tank about 2/3 to 3/4s full then remove the plate add your live rock slowly when you have all the rock in, Place your powerheads or anything that gives the tank flow in the tank but make sure they are not pointed at the sand bed.
It will take a week or two for bacteria to repopulate the new sand bed, once that has happens it will be less likely to blow into a big dust storm when water flow hits it.
If you take your time while filling the tank and replacing the live rock you should have clear to semi clear water that's ready for fish.
One more thing you can do if you feel the need, when you remove the old sandbed your removing lots of beneficial bacteria and critters. One way to help save some is to skim the top layer of the old sand bed and place it in a nylon stocking or something similar and place it back in the tank when you add everything else or place it in the sump.
Depending on your fish load you may or may not have the tank cycle, keeping some of the old sandbed hanging somewhere in the tank will almost guarantee that it won't happen.