Changing Sandbed

[Lizbeth90]

Hi all my tank has been running for about 8 months. i do not like the sand i currently have. i will like to change the sand to a bigger grain my sand bed is about .75-1" high. i vacuum the sand bed every water change. ive since added many coral and they are doing well i would want to crash my tank. i could also add the new sand over my old sand but i do not want such a high sand bed. any suggestion?

[1891Bro]

Remove rock, fish, coral, inverts and the like. Put them in a bucket. Oh yeah, drain most of you tank water into said bucket. If it’s too much water and shot for a bucket use a bigger container but I’m saying bucket cause it sounds like #### it. Remove all the sand. Remove all the water left after cause it’ll have all the deep down sand nasties. Rinse new sand. Add new sand. Have new water ready to go too cause you’ll need some. Replace all the stuff in the bucket and fill er on up. 

Lots of work but not that hard. 

[dandelion]

Or you can divide it up. Just siphon part of the sandbed every WC until most of it is gone, then take out the rocks siphon out the last of the sand and put in new sand.

 

or go bare bottom. 

[ffoott]

8 hours ago, Lizbeth90 said:

ive since added many coral and they are doing well i would want to crash my tank.

I think you guys are giving off bad advice for the OP stated purpose of wanting to crash his tank...the way your advising him, he's clearly going to have a thriving tank. That's just mean! 

[Clown79]

Nothing bad will happen if it's done properly.

 

 

Pre was new sand until water runs clear

 

Have new salt water made

 

 

Siphon water from tank into buckets

 

Livestock gets removed and placed in 1

 

Rock is then removed and placed in another

 

I'd put a powerhead or airstone/pump in the buckets

 

Start siphoning out sand

 

Wipe down the tank of any detritus

 

Add rocks, add sand, add new water

 

When salinity and temp are correct, start adding livestock back in

 

 

 

Fyi: too large a grain of sand can cause detritus buildup even with vacuuming 

 

 

 

[Subsea]

Why change substrate on thriving ecosystem?

[Subsea]

12 hours ago, Lizbeth90 said:

Hi all my tank has been running for about 8 months. i do not like the sand i currently have. i will like to change the sand to a bigger grain my sand bed is about .75-1" high. i vacuum the sand bed every water change. ive since added many coral and they are doing well i would want to crash my tank. i could also add the new sand over my old sand but i do not want such a high sand bed. any suggestion?

What grain size and what depth  is sandbed now?  What is it about your sandbed that you don’t like?  Ascetics?  What is the chemical composition of your present sandbed?  Aroggonite?

 

Over a period of four months, I vacuumed a 6” sandbed of CaribSea  Crushed Coral down to less than 2”.  This grain size is 

2mm-5mm in diameter.  Sandbed had been neglected by janitors, including me.

 

@Lizbeth90

For what purpose does the sandbed in your tank serve?

[LogicalReefs]

5 hours ago, Clown79 said:

Nothing bad will happen if it's done properly.

 

 

Pre was new sand until water runs clear

 

Have new salt water made

 

 

Siphon water from tank into buckets

 

Livestock gets removed and placed in 1

 

Rock is then removed and placed in another

 

I'd put a powerhead or airstone/pump in the buckets

 

Start siphoning out sand

 

Wipe down the tank of any detritus

 

Add rocks, add sand, add new water

 

When salinity and temp are correct, start adding livestock back in

 

 

 

Fyi: too large a grain of sand can cause detritus buildup even with vacuuming 

 

 

 

Can you wash with regular tap water and then add to tank? Been thinking of adding sand to my bare bottom and don’t have a RODI unit. I buy from LFS. Sorry for hijackjng thread.

[Subsea]

15 minutes ago, RocketClownfish said:

Can you wash with regular tap water and then add to tank? Been thinking of adding sand to my bare bottom and don’t have a RODI unit. I buy from LFS. Sorry for hijackjng thread.

Tap water would work if you allow 24 hours for chloramines to exit as a gas.  Or you could neutralize chlorine in tap water bowl, then add substrate to tank.

[A Little Blue]

44 minutes ago, RocketClownfish said:

Can you wash with regular tap water and then add to tank? Been thinking of adding sand to my bare bottom and don’t have a RODI unit. I buy from LFS. Sorry for hijackjng thread.

A little risky. 

[Clown79]

57 minutes ago, RocketClownfish said:

Can you wash with regular tap water and then add to tank? Been thinking of adding sand to my bare bottom and don’t have a RODI unit. I buy from LFS. Sorry for hijackjng thread.

Most wash it thoroughly in tap and the final rinse with rodi or salt water.

 

You can also add some Prime just to be safe.

13 minutes ago, A Little Blue said:

A little risky. 

Not really. Its a common practice.

 

Most wash it with their backyard hose and final rinse in rodi or salt water.

 

 

[A Little Blue]

6 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

Most wash it thoroughly in tap and the final rinse with rodi or salt water.

 

You can also add some Prime just to be safe.

Not really. Its a common practice.

 

Most wash it with their backyard hose and final rinse in rodi or salt water.

 

 

Sounds to me like he was trying to save some $ and skip the RODI/SW step. 

But, I will be more than happy to learn from their experiences. 😎

[Subsea]

5 minutes ago, A Little Blue said:

Sounds to me like he was trying to save some $ and skip the RODI/SW step. 

But, I will be more than happy to learn from their experiences. 😎

I never use ro/di water.   Water comes straight out of Edwards Aquifier.  Full of minerals that grow coral.

[A Little Blue]

My comes from Newtown Creek Plant so not exactly the same. 

[Subsea]

14 minutes ago, A Little Blue said:

My comes from Newtown Creek Plant so not exactly the same. 

AND what is your point.

[Subsea]

@Lizbeth90

I noticed in your “about to give up” thread, that you are having some problems with your tank.  Might I suggest you keep all info in one “tank journal” thread.  

 

If you want good / pertenant advice, then post pertenant information on your tank in one place.  

[A Little Blue]

14 minutes ago, Subsea said:

AND what is your point.

That I would not rinse my sandbed with that crap. 

[Subsea]

1 hour ago, A Little Blue said:

That I would not rinse my sandbed with that crap. 

That is a choice you can make, but it is an opinion or should we say, it is  a projection of your reality.

[A Little Blue]

25 minutes ago, Subsea said:

That is a choice you can make, but it is an opinion or should we say, it is  a projection of your reality.

Exactly. And I never claimed it to be a rule, way do go or scientific paper or anything else.🤣 I simply choose to go the other route. So excuse me for being a pu$$y and steer clear from your ways. Lmao

[LogicalReefs]

3 hours ago, A Little Blue said:

Sounds to me like he was trying to save some $ and skip the RODI/SW step. 

But, I will be more than happy to learn from their experiences. 😎

No. I don’t have a RODI unit so it would cost way more to thoroughly clean the sand with RODI water since I’ll be buying my water from LFS to do so. I’ll just do what @Clown79 suggested. 

 

4 hours ago, Clown79 said:

Most wash it thoroughly in tap and the final rinse with rodi or salt water.

 

You can also add some Prime just to be safe.

Not really. Its a common practice.

 

Most wash it with their backyard hose and final rinse in rodi or salt water.

 

 

Thanks. I’ll rinse with my water hose and then I’ll do a final rinse with RODI water. 

[1891Bro]

2 hours ago, RocketClownfish said:

No. I don’t have a RODI unit so it would cost way more to thoroughly clean the sand with RODI water since I’ll be buying my water from LFS to do so. I’ll just do what @Clown79 suggested. 

 

Thanks. I’ll rinse with my water hose and then I’ll do a final rinse with RODI water. 

Forget rodi as far as cost is concerned. Just buy distilled for the grocer. Yeah. 

 

Edit: don’t buy it for the grocer, buy it FROM the grocer or pharmacy or wherever.  

[Lizbeth90]

6 hours ago, Subsea said:

@Lizbeth90

I noticed in your “about to give up” thread, that you are having some problems with your tank.  Might I suggest you keep all info in one “tank journal” thread.  

 

If you want good / pertenant advice, then post pertenant information on your tank in one place.  

Still new to this, didnt know i could post my history of my tank in one

[Lizbeth90]

10 hours ago, Subsea said:

What grain size and what depth  is sandbed now?  What is it about your sandbed that you don’t like?  Ascetics?  What is the chemical composition of your present sandbed?  Aroggonite?

 

Over a period of four months, I vacuumed a 6” sandbed of CaribSea  Crushed Coral down to less than 2”.  This grain size is 

2mm-5mm in diameter.  Sandbed had been neglected by janitors, including me.

 

@Lizbeth90

For what purpose does the sandbed in your tank serve?

Lets see... i currently have fiji pink live sand about .75 to an inch high. i do like how small the grain is and how easily it moves around. i was looking into reekflakes. those are a bit bigger in grain size and i think it will work better for my liking.

[Subsea]

10 hours ago, Lizbeth90 said:

Lets see... i currently have fiji pink live sand about .75 to an inch high. i do like how small the grain is and how easily it moves around. i was looking into reekflakes. those are a bit bigger in grain size and i think it will work better for my liking.

For certain, you can add larger on top of smaller grains.  As you have already been cautioned, largeer grain size will need more vacume maintenance.  If you keep your sandbed. under 2", you should have no hydrogen sulfide problems.

 

Tank Journal forum is whewre you want to go for your single point thread info.  Here is mine.

 

 

[Nocturnal]

If you don't like it and things are going well otherwise just vacuum a bit of it out with every WC. That is the easiest and least risky method. I did it myself a few years back.