Swapping Crushed Coral for Sand

[JZ199]

When I did mine I took out all of my life rock and cleanup crew, put it in tubs like you said... I took all my crushed coral out at once and put the sand in through a pvc pipe, it did get cloudy but the fish I had in there at the time were perfectly fine and still alive today... not sure if it helped or not but I put a 2 of them cheap HOB filters from Walmart on after that and within 24 hours my tank easy crystal clear

 

[JZ199]

Wow this knew phone is annoying *live rock and *was crystal clear

 

[gemini9]

Well I managed to get all of my crushed coral out of the tank. I took the rest out today and getting ready to do a water change and put in the sand. I still don't think my little 20lb bag will be sufficient. I'm going to order more but I don't know if I should get another 20 pounds (=40) or just 10 pounds to give me 30 lbs for my 30 gallon tank. I have no sand sifters at present, but may buy a goby in a month or so. I will definitely order a cuc of snails and crabs as soon as next week. So what do you all think? 20 pounds or 10 pounds more? I have a long rectangular aquarium. More long than it is tall.

 

[gemini9]

I just added my sand and my water is sooooo cloudy I can't even see anything in the tank! Should I turn on any equipment? Powerhead? HOB filter? Hopefully my damsel and hermits will be alright. To think I still need to order another bag. Poor fish..

 

[gemini9]

Ok so my sand is anywhere from 1/4 inch to 1 inch throughout the tank. Do I need more? I don't want a deep sand bed. I want to keep it shallow, but deep enough to filter the water and deep enough so that I can get sand sifters, such as gobies, stars and others. 20 pounds in there now and I'm tempted to order another 10. Please comment. Is my sandbed deep enough?