Crushed coral substrate??

[LittleRed]

My husband recently bought another 30gal tank without talking to me about it. He used what I'm 99.9% positive is crushed coral as a substrate, which, as I've been researching, is not really an effective substrate. Is there a way to remove the substrate without dumping out tons of water? What do y'all recommend as a better substrate, we've used sand before but it would be nice to get more experienced opinions. Thanks!

 

[Jimbo662]

Is there anything else in the tank? Is it cycled already? I used the pink fiji in my first and hated the dust storms. In my current tank I used the special grade sand from BRS and love it. No sand storms and the snails have no issues burrowing through it.

 

[LittleRed]

Is there anything else in the tank? Is it cycled already? I used the pink fiji in my first and hated the dust storms. In my current tank I used the special grade sand from BRS and love it. No sand storms and the snails have no issues burrowing through it.

Yes, I believe it has. I've been away on a trip and it was there when I got back. He has live rock in it as well as a few hermits, a couples snails, and two blue chromis.

 

[Jimbo662]

You should be able to switch it out slowly...like a cup every other day or so. In that small of a tank you could probably start putting in the new sand once you get about half the crushed coral out. This way the new stuff has time to become live before all the old stuff is out.