Changing Sand. Any tips?

[steverino]

So when I set my nuvo 8 up I used some very fine grain sand and my MP10 blows is everywhere even on the lowest setting. I bought some Hawaiian black sand from my LFS to swap it out with.

 

My plan was to just slowly suck out the old sand during my weekly water changes and replace with the black. Since the black sand is "alive" will there be adverse effects to letting it sit week to week as I add more? I'm hoping to avoid messing with the water chemistry too much. Any help is appreciated.

[Pinner Reef]

That's pretty much how I've always done it. Maybe a third of the sand at a time whilst vacuuming. Just don't disturb the old side very much as you go along as that could release the trapped nutrients. As the new stuff is added the old sand will seed it and prevent a major cycle.

[justinfox]

100% that's the right way to do it.

 

Be sure to use a very large diameter hose. I have a huge hose and it sucks up the sand HARDCORE fast.

[steverino]

Thanks for the replies. Are there any certain ways I should store the new sand after I open the bag? I won't be using it all at once.

[Murphs_Reef]

Following as I'm in the same boat

[Begow]

I literally just did this two weeks ago. I got a large diameter plastic hose, and siphoned it all out. I was restarting completely so I took my rock out too but you could probably do it without that.

 

 

My whole process with taking out rock, siphoning sand, scrubbing tank, adding new sand and reassembling took me about an hour. My liverock is extremely seeded and I rinsed the new sand very well so I had no adverse issues, and my coral looked AMAZING the following morning.

[jedimasterben]

+1 to removing it all at once. You can then add new water to replace the volume you took out with the sand you can filter the water through a tiny (1 micron or less) filter sock and reuse it. I've done both, both had the same result.

[wobar]

I did this about a month ago. It took me a few days because so much water came out with the sand. My process was as follows:

 

1. Siphon out 2-3 5 gallon buckets of water and sand.

2. Replace with new salt water

3. Make more salt water

4. Repeat until no more sand is remaining

5. Add new sand

 

I added the new sand at night, and the water was VERY cloudy. By the morning, it had all settled. I also skimmed heavily for a few hours that night which helped.

 

I have been dealing with cyano since then, and I have never had an issue with it in the past. The only thing I can attribute it to is the new sand. My ammonia and nitrates have been undetectable through the whole process.

[Hig789]

Cyano is the result of not enough flow. Doubt it came from the sand. Try kicking your flow up and manually removing the spots of cyano.

[jedimasterben]

Cyano is the result of not enough flow. Doubt it came from the sand. Try kicking your flow up and manually removing the spots of cyano.

*facepalm*

[xiaoxiy]

I have been dealing with cyano since then, and I have never had an issue with it in the past. The only thing I can attribute it to is the new sand. My ammonia and nitrates have been undetectable through the whole process.

I suspect that you probably lost a few of the microbes that compete with Cyano during the sand change. Similar thing happened to me during a tankswap where I swapped my old sand for a new bag of Oolite. It took a bit to clear up, but eventually did.

 

Cyano is the result of not enough flow. Doubt it came from the sand. Try kicking your flow up and manually removing the spots of cyano.

I think that might be an outdated way of thinking about Cyano. When I was still dealing with cyano after my tank & sand swap, I was running an MP10 @ 50% in an 11 gallon tank in addition to my return pump. Even with all that flow, cyano managed to blanket my sand.

[Hig789]

I think that might be an outdated way of thinking about Cyano. When I was still dealing with cyano after my tank & sand swap, I was running an MP10 @ 50% in an 11 gallon tank in addition to my return pump. Even with all that flow, cyano managed to blanket my sand.

Well thats what got rid of my cyano, just trying to offer some help.

 

So what's the new way of removing cyano? That's the only way I have ever seen I guess beside the red slime remover.

[Sancho]

Change all of it at the same time. No sense in prolonging it. Or get rid of it all together the MP10 will still blow the black sand around and you will be in the same boat after all that work. Are you keeping SPS? Why the need for that much flow in such a small tank? I have a CAD 8 and the return pump alone blows the sand around in one corner and provides plenty of flow.

[xiaoxiy]

Well thats what got rid of my cyano, just trying to offer some help.

 

So what's the new way of removing cyano? That's the only way I have ever seen I guess beside the red slime remover.

I think Cyano is a multi-factorial problem. To keep it at bay, I would propose that you need adequate flow, a balanced microbial population AND nutrient control. I've noticed that when one of these is missing in my tank, cyano rears its ugly head.

[Hig789]

I think Cyano is a multi-factorial problem. To keep it at bay, I would propose that you need adequate flow, a balanced microbial population AND nutrient control. I've noticed that when one of these is missing in my tank, cyano rears its ugly head.

Yeah mine was nutrients and inadequate flow. Fixed both and manually removed it and it's gone now. But now I have brown algae spots taking its place. But I just recently got my nutrients under control. Started gfo and carbon. I think the algae is just the ugly tank stage. Mines about 5 months old.

 

Sorry to the OP for hijacking the thread.

[Gooburz]

I've replaced the sand 2 times now on a 20L I had before upgrading to my 40 Breeder. I literally broke the tank down completly, removed all the fish, corals, CUC, etc. Removed the live rock all in their own containters, used a shop vac to get all the sand out, cleaned the bottom of the tank. Added the new sand, re-added the rock and did a SLOW fill up which prevented the water clouding over. waited an hour or so and got the pumps, heater, skimmer running and then re-added the corals and fish.

 

I had zero problems doing it this way, just make sure you have water ready to go at the right temp and salanity. Both times a total success and no spikes in any way.

[steverino]

Change all of it at the same time. No sense in prolonging it. Or get rid of it all together the MP10 will still blow the black sand around and you will be in the same boat after all that work. Are you keeping SPS? Why the need for that much flow in such a small tank? I have a CAD 8 and the return pump alone blows the sand around in one corner and provides plenty of flow.

Well I just added a very small clownfish and he can't seem to handle the mp10 with the flow turned all the way down. I Had the mp10 from a previous tank and I just put it in there to help with detritus export. I Just took the mp10 off yesterday during my water change. I still think the flow is too weak so I'm just going to try and upgrade the return pump to an mj600.

[steverino]

Well I finally got the sand changed today. I've been taking out the old sand every week with my water changes and got the most I could without moving my live rock around. Its just a little cloudy. In fact it's better than I expected. I'm sure the ceriths will be happy to have some sand again. Thanks everyone for your input.

[steverino]

Well here is the end result.

 

[Sancho]

Nice tank! looks great with the black sand. Did you get a bigger return pump?

[steverino]

Nice tank! looks great with the black sand. Did you get a bigger return pump?

No I haven't yet. I actually was able to turn my mp10 back on now that my clown is accustomed to the tank. He actually plays in the flow. I'm still not convinced on keeping it in there long term however.