Help Switching To Sand

[Waffo]

Hello guys.. I'm in need of a little advice. I currently have crushed corral and I now want to switch to sand. I'm just wondering will it affect anything.. I'm willing to change all of my water.. Will that mean that I will have to cycle again? Or can I just go ahead and make the switch?

 

[Pete polyp]

How long has your tank been set up? What's the livestock? how deep of a sandbed are you planning?

 

[Waffo]

It's been set up for a very long time.. Around 9 years.. I recently purchased it from my uncle.. My problem is that I have high nitrates.. Last Sunday I made a major water change and some cleaning of my live rock and moved a few around.. I'm planing on making a new aquascape this weekend but I'm afraid it will turn a bunch of nitrates and phosphates loose. So I want to get rid of all croushed coral and go with dry sand but I'm not sure if that's gona affect anything or if I might get a new cycle?

 

[Waffo]

I have 2 clowns an orange spotted goby, 2 damsel..

 

[Waffo]

Sand bed is about 1.5 to 2 inches..

 

[Pete polyp]

You might see a tiny mini cycle, which is doubtful since you have well established live rock.

Why not put a 4" sand bed? It will play a major part in removing nitrate.

 

[Waffo]

If it will help me I will.. I was going to go with 2 inch dry sand.

 

[Pete polyp]

Having a 4-6" sandbed will help tremendously. This is where the nitrates can be completely processed and expelled as nitrogen and oxygen.

 

[rako1]

when you do start pulling out your old sand do it 1 section at a time over a few weeks and add the new sand the same way. This way any changes that happen to your tank is slow and easer to recover from

 

[Waffo]

You think 4 inch will be good.. I have a 125 gallon.. 6ft long..

 

[joekidwell]

Have you tried vacuuming the crushed coral during water changes?

 

[Pete polyp]

I would not recommend changing in sections. This will just make the impacted time period longer. Yes a 4" sand bed will work just fine. A 4" sandbed is the only means of nitrate removal I'm using in my 29. I have 2ppm nitrate at the moment and I have had to feed it 4-6 times every day to get it that high. The first year this tank was set up I fed 12 times a week and had 0 nitrate.

This is how tank looks right now

 

[rako1]

4-6 would be ok, there is a lot of good and bad thoughts on dsb do some reading

 

[Waffo]

I haven't tried vacuuming it.. I'm afraid I'm going to disturb 9 years of nitrates build up.. I'm willing to replace everything. Water and crushed coral..

 

[Pete polyp]

with the sand you will not need to vacuum it. Disturbing it by allowing oxygenated water to the anaerobic zones can cause a tank crash. Yes a dsb does require a little bit of maintenance over years, but its not that difficult. People like to point the finger at things instead of admitting poor husbandry. This is where you will hear all the horror stories about how awful dsb are. The best thing I have found to maintain a healthy dsb is nassarius snails. They won't disturb the anaerobic area too bad and they keep the aerobic area stirred up and clean.

 

[Waffo]

Ok this is what I'm thinking of doing.. You can tell me other wise if it's not a good idea.. Removing all my live rock and properly storing it while I drain all my water and remove crushed coral and replace with sand, then add new aquascape then salt water?

 

[Pete polyp]

What kind of livestock do you have? A change in chemistry can upset if not kill corals. If you go that route I would suggest to acclimate everything. It would be best to keep the rock submerged in water with some flow. This would make for an excellent time to shake your rocks free from detritus.

 

[Waffo]

I don't have corals yet..

 

[Waffo]

But I will keep rock in water so they can be safe

 

[Pete polyp]

Do you have fish?