Rescaping a nano reef with livestock?

[ganja-goat]

Hey everyone I brought a fluval evo setup from my friend it’s been running for almost a year and I haven’t touched a thing since just weekly maintenance the problem I have is I’m still getting diatoms and I’ve recently found out that the sand is silica sand and ocean rock that came with the aquarium could be causing the issue from them releasing silicates still. I was wondering if it would cause a big problem if I do a total rescape on the aquarium if it would affect the livestock if I keep them in the aquarium while I change out the rock and sand

 

[blaxsun]

Are you replacing the existing rock with new live rock? I would probably (temporarily) remove the livestock into a bucket supplemented with heat and flow as you'll kick up a lot of crap when removing the sand.

If you're replacing with new dry rock you'll need something like Bio Spira or Dr. Timm's to insta-cycle the tank again.

 

[SouthwestAquaculture]

If you are going to be replacing the substrate as well then definitely remove the livestock temporarily.

 

[ganja-goat]

To be honest I’m not really sure what to do. The substrate is silica sand I’m not sure if it’s ok to keep in there or if I should remove everything and change to live sand