replacing crushed coral

[Pizzapro83]

I was at my LFS the other day and the where sucking half the live sand out of each tank and replacing it. They said they do it every six months. I have never heard this. Does anyone have experience with this?? Thanks Frank

 

[RUGDOG]

I do vacum my sand some when doing water changes and after a while have to add sand back and never had an issue with that but I dont think I would do that with crushed coral because I believe it would cause a PH spike. Maybe some others can chime in that know more on CC.

 

[Pizzapro83]

I mean live sand. Sorry. What benefits does it have??

 

[RUGDOG]

well I just do it to replenish the sand but a benefit could be a calcium boost from the sand.

 

[jmuzzey]

Pizzapro, are you from lockport Il.? If so, wondering what LFS you were at that did that.

I have read about some people doing that every 3 to 6 months, but it is a rarity rather than the norm. If you have not stirred or touched your sand bed, it can be deadly when you remove it to the tank inhabitants, so it has to be done very carefully.

When people change out the sand bed, they usually do it in thirds to not upset the biological balance of the tank. There is bacteria in the sand bed that helps with filtration, and if you remove it all at once, you can risk going through a cycle getting an ammonia spike.

 

[Pizzapro83]

Thanks for the help. I live in Lockport New York. The kid was sucking out there gravel and told me the do it every six months to a year. Does this sound right. He said its good to replace half your live sand. Does anyone do that??

 

[Pizzapro83]

anyone??
:sad:

 

[ahayes13]

i dont replace my sand. however i use a siphon to clean out my sand every water change. keeps debris from building up....

 

[Pizzapro83]

So does everyone agree not to suck out half the live sand and replace it with new live sand

 

[jmuzzey]

What is the reason you want to replace it? If it is just to freshen it up, you can add a thin top layer to the existing sandbed, kind of like adding a small amount of new mulch to a garden to freshen it up.

I hope it is okay that I mention anotherr site, if not, I apologize.....but on reef central, there was a TOTM a long while back that was huge. It was a semi circle or curved tank that was something like 22 feet long. He would replace sections of the sand every 3 months to keep things fresh and clean, but this was done from the beginning of the tank. He would do it in thirds I think. You would have to dig through all the old totm links. It was a gorgeous tank, hard to miss.

 

[Pizzapro83]

thanks

 

[fragtastic]

How deep was the sand in the tanks? If it's less than several inches then periodically siphoning some of it out helps get rid of the accumulated detrius.

Was this at Randy's?