So, when I got my current 16gal nano I bought it from a friend who was increasing tank size. Everything looked pretty good, but the sand is less than spectacular. The sand is continuing to look worse and I’m wondering how everybody feels about changing out sand. I know it’s a huge pain and if I go with replacing it I’m going to need to do it in small patches, but I’d love some advice/thoughts/or insight into this task. Thanks all!
The Great Substrate Debate
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I used to slowly change it out once a year over a three week period of time, then I would put in new Tropic Eden Reef Flakes.
Moved on to staying BB along time ago, but most like to looking at a sand bed.
Since your only 16 gallons, try a small fish net to get the old sand out and dump it in a plastic container as you go.
I would just suck up the nasty part with some vinyl tubing when doing normal water changes. Can clean it and add it back if you want.
If you really want to get rid of it all, then as long as it is only a couple inches deep there is nothing wrong with removing 100% of the sand all at once. I do it once every 2 or 3 years. In my experience sand ads very little to the beneficial bacteria populations that keeps our tanks in balance. And whatever you lose will repopulate quickly.
Only cost $6 for 10 feet of 1/2 inch vinyl tubing at Lowes. Take you less than 5 minutes to suck all that sand out. Will lose most of the water too and you definitely do NOT want to use that water that comes out with the sand so have plenty of new water mixed up before you start. Corals and fish will love the large water change as long as you make sure it is well oxygenated, match salinity and get the temp within 4 degrees or so.
I give the sand a good rinsing in fresh water until that water is clear (this is by far the biggest pain in the whole process). Then add it back into the tank fresh and clean. I usually get a small diatom bloom after a few days but that always goes away no problem.
Forgot to mention you also need to make sure your new source water is silicate free otherwise you are looking at a large diatom bloom, and may end up being more frustrated with the end result than the current problem.
