Switching over sand

[Propane]

So I put sugar fine sand or smaller in my tank when I started it up. I accidentally bought the wrong sand but went with it. I was thinking of switching it out. Would it be best to just do it or slowly remove it and as bare patch’s get big enough replace it. Or should I just let it go and not make the same mistake when I start my new tank. It’s a 15g tank.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

How soon are you starting your new tank?

 

[Propane]

How soon are you starting your new tank?

Hopefully within 6 months.

 

[Propane]

I was also wondering since I don’t have fish could I just slowly convert this tank to bare bottom.
Or could I just take out most of it and slowly replace it with a more appropriate sand grade.

 

[brandon429]

EMERGENCY - Substrate change

Hi all, I’m really confused and need advice. I currently have crushed coral in my flu all evo 13.5g which due to a month in hospital the sand bed got so badly stained I can’t clean it and it looks gross. It’s a mixed tank with a clown, fire fish and 2 cardinals. I’ve ordered caribsea live pink...

www.reef2reef.com

We've done this job about 300 times, you'd do it all at once and pre rinse the new sand like above

 

[brandon429]

Don't do anything in partial action when dealing with sand

If you want to go bare, no sand, you still follow that thread and the only part you change is putting no sand back.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I have fine sand in my tank, it's a challenge at first with the powerhead positioning to avoid sand storms, but it packs down after a few months and becomes a non-issue.

 

[DeniseAndy]

With anything around 40g or less, I would just take all animals out and rock too, remove the sand, clean well, add it all back in. I do this pretty regularly on my 40g, 20g and 6g. Gets it a great clean and happy animals. I also will change out all water in the process. So empty tank completely.

If you add more sand, make sure to rinse super well before using. Keeps the dust storms down a lot.

Yes, do full clean with the 15g tank. Just re-read for size.

 

[brandon429]

The reason we switch all at once is because there isn’t benefit in choosing an unsafe mode, which is working in partial sections. The majority of tanks are fine if they’re switched in sections, clouding up the display with casted waste, usually nothing happens

but on page one of the sand rinse thread I’ve spent five years back editing in times where partial work killed their whole setup or all their fish, immediately, to show the unsafe side of following what the majority says to do as a warning. By simply adopting the safe habit now and not veering from it, 100% of sand handling jobs turn out safe and I don’t have any more crash examples to scoop up and edit in. We are on year nine in the sr thread with not one loss, hundreds of linked completed jobs, strong data in support of what’s safe for sure.

 

[Propane]

Thanks for the responses and the thread link. While I was looking through the thread it seemed to me that I could switch over to bare bottom without a massive tank crash. If my cerith snails can be happy without sand I might just go bare bottom.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Thanks for the responses and the thread link. While I was looking through the thread it seemed to me that I could switch over to bare bottom without a massive tank crash. If my cerith snails can be happy without sand I might just go bare bottom.

They can

 

[brandon429]

the safety key was the tank disassembly step

someone might think they can vacuum out the sand via hose with the tank full and get the same safety % we get from taking out animals, water, then removing sand, then cleaning off rocks from adhered detritus, then putting them back with all new water or in this case you can reuse some of your old water since there's no invasion...that's not the case. the ordered steps/although a hassle/are there to prevent you upwelling waste in the presence of animals. any vacuuming of a fully filled tank will mix around that dangerous waste and harm a small % of tanks in varying degrees of harm.

the aspect of updated cycling science that governs the safety is that even though you are subtracting surface area (sand grains) covered in cycling bacteria, they just don't matter bc the live rock is all the surface area and cycling bac any reef tank display needs. the key was preventing the upwelling of waste in the presence of animal life, the loss of lower-plane surface area and bacteria simply do not matter in any reef tank display.

if your sand removal is 100% cloud free where the corals and fish are held in the process, and 100% cloud free after reassembly/ its safe