Swapping Crushed Coral for Sand

[gemini9]

It has been previously advised by several members to switch out my Crushed Coral for Sand, so I'm taking the plunge. I ordered 20 pounds of pink sand from brs for my 30 gallon talk.

My current setup consists of a Octopus skimmer, Marineland Penguin 350 hob filter and a powerhead that i keep pointed moreso toward the top of the water at a slight angle. I have about 25-30 pounds of LR. As far as livestock goes, I have 4 hermits and I just added my first fish, a Yellowtail Blue Damsel. I will probably remove all of the LR and put them into some buckets of water temporarily while I remove the CC and add the sand. Probably will do about a 20% waterchange to help lower the water level a bit.

So I'm wondering, before I put this sand in here and get started: Any tips?

Will the cloudiness hurt my new Damsel fish? Should I turn off all my equipment until it settles? I've read that a good way to put the sand in, is through a pvc pipe so I may try that.

I do not want a DSB, because I have a habit of taking my siphon hose and really digging down into the crushed coral and moving it around to get out the nasty stuff. I will do the same with the sand prolly. I also tend to move a LR around here and there once in awhile.

 

[tyler1503]

Good idea! Crushed coral can trap detritus pretty well. Sand is much cleaner in my experience.
You should only take out small bits of substrate at a time. Too fast and it may shock the system. Maybe 25% per water change or so.
When you add sand, turn off all your pumps and skimmers and stuff like that for a while, like a couple of hours just so the sand settles and doesn't get sucked into an impeller and ruin a pump. The cloudiness won't hurt fish, so you don't have to worry about that it will also displace a lot of water so draining a few inches of water is a good idea too.
It's also recommended to add the new sand slowly. I found if you put the bag of sand in the tank (or rebag small portions of it to add the sand slowly) and cut the bag away it's much cleaner than just dumping it in.
Using a gravel vac siphon cleaner thing can suck up the sand pretty easy, so that might not be an option any more. But it depends on the grain size I guess. You also need to wash the sand before adding it. It will help a lot with the cloudiness and also wash away any nasty stuff that may be in the bag from the packaging factory.
Good luck!

 

[Jimbo662]

+1 on washing that sand. I'm assuming it's the pink fiji...I had that in my last tank and didn't wash it. The least little disturbance would send a dust cloud around the tank. I had to get rid of my goby because all of my rocks ended up white.

 

[gemini9]

Yeah, it's the pink fiji from brs. Thanks for the tips. I'll start taking the CC out when the bag arrives. I'm a bit worried now about the grains being too small. I don't really want them to get sucked up in the siphon. How can I clean out the poo if I can't siphon? I don't want any sand storms either. I had asked about sand in some previous threads awhile back and I was advised to go with the pink fiji, that it is good sand and large enough that it won't cause sand storms or get thrown around too much. If it gets to be an issue, would it help to mix the sand with the CC? Or maybe mix it with another large grain sand? This will be my first experience with sand so I'm not sure what to expect. How do I wash sand without losing it all down the drain? lol I know.. stupid question... but I honestly have no idea. Wouldn't it fall right through the strainer?

 

[tyler1503]

I don't clean my sandbed at all, I don't have a sand dwelling CUC and never had an issue relating to the sand. But if your concerned about fish poo and detritus you could add some nassarius snails and brittle stars to eat it and turn over the sand.
I haven't used that sand before, so I don't know what the grain size is, but an aquarium net should work to clean it. Just hold it under running water over a bucket. That way if any sand does fall through the net, the bucket will catch it
Like I said, I've never used that sand so I can't comment on sandstorms sorry.
I personally wouldn't mix the sand and cc, but that's just me. I don't think there's any issues with mixing sand. They recommend not reusing old substrates though.

 

[gemini9]

Thanks for the help. So I understand not to take out too much CC at once or may screw up the tank. how much is too much? Should I take out a cup at a time? two cups? A third of the tank? A spoonfull? :neutral:

Also, when removing the CC, should I replace what I've removed with sand? Or wait until it's bare bottom and THEN add the sand?

 

[Jimbo662]

I think taking out a couple of cups every few days would be ok. Maybe wait until you have about 1/3 removed then slowly start adding some sand keeping some bare space in between to keep them from mixing too much. This way bacteria will begin spreading to the sand and building up while your taking bacteria out with the CC.

 

[gemini9]

Sounds like a solid plan. My sand should arrive tomorrow. When it does, I'll start the swap. Anything else I should know before I start the process?

 

[Jc_ellis]

When I switched from gravel to sand in a 75 fresh, I did a third at a time. I also had a piece of acrylic cut to the width of the tank so I could put it in place and add the sand without worrying about the two mixing too much. I also used a large cup, think souvenir cup from zoo, movie theater, sporting event, to pour the sand on the bottom without too much disturbance.

 

[gemini9]

acrylic idea sounds good.

 

[fishroomlady]

is the new sand live?

 

[gemini9]

is the new sand live?

Yeah. It's the Fiji Pink Arag-Alive from bulkreefsupply.com

Fiji Pink Arag-Alive! Live Reef Sand - Bulk Reef Supply

 

[Rob&Gab]

Tagging along as we have a crushed coral bed in one of out shallow tanks that's been up for over a year it's about 1.5" in a 60g deepvlue shallow 48.24.12. Trying to decide on how much out a time to take out at once and do I do it till no more is there then add reg sand . I will be using Gigi pin I have 2 bags ready.


Sorry, hope you don't mind me taking the ride with ya bud.!

 

[tyler1503]

Thanks for the help. So I understand not to take out too much CC at once or may screw up the tank. how much is too much? Should I take out a cup at a time? two cups? A third of the tank? A spoonfull? :neutral:

Also, when removing the CC, should I replace what I've removed with sand? Or wait until it's bare bottom and THEN add the sand?

I'd take out between 1/8 and 1/4. Some might say you can do more, but I personally would do it as slow as possible.
Also, because it's live sand, disregard my comment about washing it lol. You don't wana wash all the good stuff out!

 

[gemini9]

Ok. No rinse. Being live, will this jump a mini cycle?

 

[tyler1503]

Ok. No rinse. Being live, will this jump a mini cycle?

Yes it's possible. I have never used live sand, so I don't know the exact route you should take adding it. I was under the assumption it was dry sand, my bad.
Perhaps have a bottle of bacteria and prime handy jump incase.

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

Yes it's possible. I have never used live sand, so I don't know the exact route you should take adding it. I was under the assumption it was dry sand, my bad.
Perhaps have a bottle of bacteria and prime handy jump incase.

And test kits to monitor ammonia, nitrite and nitrate through the process.

 

[SantaMonica]

"Pour it through a pipe"... that's a good idea, never thought of it.

I too did not wash mine... was cloudy for 3 days, and some digging by animals did make the rocks white. But after a while the dust becomes part of the periphyton and goes away. Now my sand sifting goby, or anyone else, can kick though the sand all day with no cloudiness at all.

 

[gemini9]

Well I've got about a third of my crushed coral out so far. I'm taking about 2-3 cup fulls every day or 2. Going to have to order another 10 pound bag of sand, as the 20 pounds probably won't be enough for a 30g tank, right?

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

Well I've got about a third of my crushed coral out so far. I'm taking about 2-3 cup fulls every day or 2. Going to have to order another 10 pound bag of sand, as the 20 pounds probably won't be enough for a 30g tank, right?

Depends on how deep you want the sand bed to be. I used 20 lbs for my 40 gallon seahorse tank. I don't like a deep sand bed.