Changing the sand bed.

[k_dog345]

Hey guys, not seeing a lot of topics on this issue. I currently have fine grained Fiji sand that has been in my tank for God nows how long (at least 2 years). I'd now like to change the sand bed to be coarser so it doesn't stir up so badly.

My concern is, the bio load in the sand. I feel that I'd be removing way too much beneficial bacteria by doing this. I do have well established live rock....but not sure if that would counter act the removal of my live sand.

So...how would you guys go about this? My LFS suggested removing sections at a time (about one section a week) and placing the new sand in the cleared section to allow the bacteria to grow on the new sand.

 

[brandon429]

http://reef2reef.com/threads/the-of...ead-aka-one-against-many.230281/#post-2681445

It's not that the new setup needs bacteria (nor that rinsing removes bacteria off the sand grains making them sterile) it's that what's currently in the tank doesn't want to be exposed to the waste in the current bed. It's highly relevant to know that your current clouding has a portion of it that could have been pre rinsed out before starting, again after reviewing the real nature of bacteria on our sandbeds we can be hands on with them but it has to be in order. If you want to change it at once, it's no breakpoint for a typical reef just don't move any detritus around, be deliberate, isolate your corals and fish, work the current sandbed fully clean and set up the tank. If you leave detritus behind a little, you get a little ammonia. If you leave non, you get none the ammonia follows detritus left in the tank or exposed during the move.

If you must leave the life in the tank while cleaning the bed then removal in sections is right. For my tank, it would be a full take apart and 100% cleaning leaving no detritus or exposing the life to detritus, this lends total tank control.

 

[k_dog345]

http://reef2reef.com/threads/the-of...ead-aka-one-against-many.230281/#post-2681445

It's not that the new setup needs bacteria (nor that rinsing removes bacteria off the sand grains making them sterile) it's that what's currently in the tank doesn't want to be exposed to the waste in the current bed. It's highly relevant to know that your current clouding has a portion of it that could have been pre rinsed out before starting, again after reviewing the real nature of bacteria on our sandbeds we can be hands on with them but it has to be in order. If you want to change it at once, it's no breakpoint for a typical reef just don't move any detritus around, be deliberate, isolate your corals and fish, work the current sandbed fully clean and set up the tank. If you leave detritus behind a little, you get a little ammonia. If you leave non, you get none the ammonia follows detritus left in the tank or exposed during the move.

If you must leave the life in the tank while cleaning the bed then removal in sections is right. For my tank, it would be a full take apart and 100% cleaning leaving no detritus or exposing the life to detritus, this lends total tank control.

Thanks for the reply! What I'm getting out of this is the best way to go about replacing my sand bed is to quarantine my livestock by putting it in a holding tank with 90% existing water...remove and replace the old substrate and refill with existing water then replace the live stock.

I should be good with this strategy right? My main concern was disrupting my bio load.

 

[brandon429]

we need a real-time example in that sand thread, for the non-new systems. can you post a full tank shot real quick and we can plan your move quite easy and Ill link it there for others to see the planning and execution

sandbed moves are dangerous in the reef tank, but not when done deliberately I think we should plan well before starting.

yes that summary is how Id do it, the pics might show any other details. The only caveat I can think of to mention (things we get off pics) is that in rare instances where the live rock had massive, massive algae blanketing it can cause a mini cycle when moved to another container and cleaned (because detritus starts shooting out of the rock when unplugged, into the holding container)

but if your live rock was standard, not plugged, then moving it to a holding container does not recycle it in the least. as you brainstorm move options I want to link my advice being worked in my tiny tiny tank. If mini cycles happen here, it will die as I have no dilution to work with:

http://reef2reef.com/threads/lets-d...-the-key-to-indefinite-reef-life-span.222105/

takeaways from that link:

I took all rocks and corals out before disturbing anything, so they didn't get a cycle. if Id partially cleaned that sandbed, then id be putting them back into water that has partial detritus floating in it....but I didn't. when the corals and rocks were isolated, I blasted hades out of that sand making it new, thorough. deliberate. zero detritus to come home too, the corals and rocks were set back among rinsed sand that had no detritus, not some.

you'll be siphoning out the good water possibly before removing rocks, who wants to suck up waste into that clean water by siphoning it after you removed all your structure>? use some clean water upon refill, its no mini cycle, your tank isn't depending on the water nor the sand for critical mass filtration, your live rock carries it. as we rinse the old sand away, if you reuse it there is still bac on the grains, or if you switch to new wetpack sand it comes in ready as well.

If you switch to all dry sand where its not helping your filtration, we need to see pics of your fish bioload and overall amounts of live rock. It still wouldn't hurt to use dry nonfiltering sand in most reef tanks without a giant fish bioload.