Changing out old aquascape for new scape

[burtonboy182]

I have 2 separate structures in my system that are cemented. I am looking to swap it out for a new scape that's being made for me. I have a couple questions/ concerns. Tank has been setup for a year. There are no corals in the tank just fish. In the sump I have 2 marine pure plates the 8x8x4

1. Sand that is in there. I would like to remove it and clean it out. Covered with aptasia and bristle worms. I know the worms are good just hate seeing them. They are small but still not a fan. Should I remove the sand now and clean it for when my new rock comes? maybe 3-4 weeks, I would completely replace it but Its out of stock.

OR should I leave the sand and get something that eats the bristle worms and then some aptasia eating nudibrachs.

For the fish I could setup a temp tank to hold them, swap out the rock then put them back. I was thinking to move the marine pure to the temp tank, let the system dry out for day or two to kill any aptasia in the pipes and overflow.

I was going to dose the system with MB7 or Fritz Turbo start once the switch has been made

Anything I can do to make this easier?

 

[bevo5]

I don't know the answers to all of your questions - but if you do try and remove the sand then it's going to kick up a bunch of gunk and you'll want to keep a really close eye on your ammonia levels. It's going to get very messy in there.

I've had luck sucking the sand out with a siphon to keep the gunk out of the tank as much as possible.

 

[Simply__J]

I don't know the answers to all of your questions - but if you do try and remove the sand then it's going to kick up a bunch of gunk and you'll want to keep a really close eye on your ammonia levels. It's going to get very messy in there.

I've had luck sucking the sand out with a siphon to keep the gunk out of the tank as much as possible.

I agree. I've kept my sand during two moves all I did was siphoned the sand out and run it through a filter sock a couple of times over 5gal buckets to get rid of the "dirty water" in essence just rincing the sand, then added it to my new fresh water/tank.

What kind of rock are you expecting? If it's dry rock you may benefit from curing it first then swapoing it with your old stuff hopefully taking all the aptasia with it but not shocking your system.

I wouldn't tackle it all of it at once. I would focus on removing the sand then swapping out the rock then dealing with the pests. Not in any specific order, just in separate steps.