Need some advice

[Kaz289]

I am in need of your knowledge again, Be gentle im still learning. I have had my first salt tank up and running for about a 15 months now, when I started I only kept fish but now have expanded into the world of corals. nothing major just a leather and some zoe's so far. I also have about 20-25 lbs of live rock.

My question or questions is when I started I used Crushed Coral because I thought it would look nicer and be easier to maintain then sand. I have since researched this and think I made a rookie mistake. It is hard to keep clean and think it may be contibuting to poor water quality specificly my pH is not stable. I would like to remove the Cc and replace with sand. I am wondering should I remove my fish and corals and place them in a holding area while I do this change or will they be ok. Also my tank is a 55 gal how deep should the bed be and what kind of sand should I use. Is live sand really live after sitting on a shelf ? or should I use a mix of my established Cc with the new sand.

Thanks in advance..

 

[Kaz289]

Bump.. I started removing some of the Cc but im taking it slow my water is getting cloudy. could still use some advice on what kind of sand to get tomorrow

 

[mamiereefer]

make sure you get all live sand its no to much. it cos me 28 dollars a bag when i got it. I think live sand is good but I'm about to take it all out. I want to go just live rock no sand. Maybe ill leave 1 " not sure yet I'm afraid i might get a high spike...

 

[Social D]

Hmm live sand is kind of a waste of money really as given time the normal sand you add will turn live in no time at all.
Replacing crushed coral with sand wont really make the tank any better if you feel its contributing to water deficiency as both will trap detrius ...

Many reefers prefer tanks without sand as its claimed it keep the tank cleaner, I guess it does to a point but looks crap, Personally i prefer calcium chips that dont clog up detrius so much and dont blow about in the flow.

I would save some of the old sand to seed the new which ever you prefer, although dont spend out on live sand you already have it in your own tank.. Depth wise keep it half an inch or so, Over time deep sand beds have a habit of trapping Po4 ..

Its up you which personal preference you like to look at but for me normal sand clogs way too much and does cuase problems overtime, Hense why i now only use calcium reactor chips, Not only do they help keep down nutrients but the give a very good pourous structure for beneficial bacteria in the tank.

The Ph in the tank imo is more than likely coming from another source and would need addressing with a run down on your water change rountine .. and certain addittives.

Personally i dont see the need to move the fish and corals from the tank whilst you remove the sand ... it will only stress them more than disturding the sand bed .. turn the flow off whislt you siphon out the cc and leave it off for a good hour or so.
It will settle in no time, corals and fish will addapt better if not moved and stressed .. so dont worry too much about them being in a cloudy enviroment for the min

 

[Awibrandy]

Hi! Sand bed is much prefered over cc in our hobby/addiction. Glad you made the decision to get rid of the CC.

Type of sand is really up to your taste. Just don't bother with the "Life Sand". You can get some life sand from another reefers established tank to add to your sand to speed up the process. But your live rock should be teaming with life that will migrate to your new sand bed.
How deep a sand bed is again up to you, unless of course you plan on keeping certain fish that burrow in the sand. Then of course you would need a sand bed of at least 2". Or you can go "BARE Bottom", but gotta tell you it is not natural at all.lol And some of those that choose that route have re introduced sand to their tank...


Oh yeah, and get some more Live Rock...

 

[straightjiggy10]

I made the same mistake LFS advised me CC, Never should have listen it was a pain, But I did buy 2 Bullet Gobies (Banded Gobies), They had no issues sifting the CC (Kept it clean) I Have a 90G and I Moved Fish to another tank and added 120lbs of carib live sand and all my rock, once tank cleared up and parimeters where ok,I then re-added the livestock everthing went well

 

[CHEMCHEF]

I just changed my entire sand bed.
When I did it. I removed all rock. Placed in tank water.
Removed all corals, Placed in tank water w/ heater & power head.
Removed all water.
removed sand.
Replaced everything.
No problems at all

 

[Kaz289]

Thanks to everyone who replied I made the change over it took a day and a half a lot of work but I followed everyones advice and had only one casualty 1 of my little crabs I crushed him accidently with the live rock. ooopss R.I.P. I also took the oppertunity to add some new pieces of rock. I got some nice pieces and the LFS. I aquascaped using some pvc tubing it came out really nice. When the water clears up a little bit more ill take some new pics. Thanks again for all your advice it was on the money as always the sand looks clean and natural.

 

[Awibrandy]

Glad to know all went well!!

the sand looks clean and natural.

For now.........................lol:tongue1: