can I just add live sand
- Thread starter peasly1
- Start date
johnnysalt
Member
NO! You CANNOT add live sand to the cc! It would break ALL THE RULES!! 
Seriously though, over time, your sand will sink below your cc b/c of small size. You said you were "turning off" you ugf. That's good, I think! Yes, turn it off, turn it off quickly! j/k! In my previous tank, I went from cc with a ugf to sand also.....it was the best move I made with it. I had kept up cleaning the cc and all....it looked good. Then I was shocked to still see so much crap under it when I scooped it out! Take out both the ugf and the cc.....Good choice!
Seriously though, over time, your sand will sink below your cc b/c of small size. You said you were "turning off" you ugf. That's good, I think! Yes, turn it off, turn it off quickly! j/k! In my previous tank, I went from cc with a ugf to sand also.....it was the best move I made with it. I had kept up cleaning the cc and all....it looked good. Then I was shocked to still see so much crap under it when I scooped it out! Take out both the ugf and the cc.....Good choice!
johnnysalt
Member
Yep!...that's what I did! Now, when you're putting the sand in, if possible use a funnel with some tubing. SLOWLY pour sand into the funnel (with a cup or whatever)....have the tubing/hose at the floor of the tank. When it comes out, it will still cloud the tank, but not NEARLY as much as just dumping it in at the surface! You'll probably still have a day or so of cloudy water....we all went through it, just run your filter if you have one.
@knight
Member
if you are going to do it, do it right. although the sand will not really hurt the fish, since you will be moving rockwork around and such, If it were me, I would book my fish into a 3 day stay in a hospital tank.
you want to get out as much of the CC as you can. I dont know about "breaking all the rules", but gravity will take its toll and the cc will rise to the top and will look bad.
If it were me, I would QT my livestock, yank the rocks and get out the cc and lay down about 4 inches of LS, add the rocks (dont forget baserock for support) then wait a few hours (or unitill the water clears a little and add the fish and corals. Reuse as much water as possible. You will be glad you switched to LS. just my .02
you want to get out as much of the CC as you can. I dont know about "breaking all the rules", but gravity will take its toll and the cc will rise to the top and will look bad.
If it were me, I would QT my livestock, yank the rocks and get out the cc and lay down about 4 inches of LS, add the rocks (dont forget baserock for support) then wait a few hours (or unitill the water clears a little and add the fish and corals. Reuse as much water as possible. You will be glad you switched to LS. just my .02
polka
Member
I am sooooooo confused!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I posted something very similar to this in f/o. My lfs persuaded me to remove 1/2 of my c/c and vacuum very well in order to cut down on nitrate. I did this and then posted a ? as to putting in l/s.
I had been told that I had just made a huge mistake and that lfs gave me bad advise.
What gives??????????????????
I had been told that I had just made a huge mistake and that lfs gave me bad advise.
What gives??????????????????
silent bob
Member
Yeah cc causes a very high build up of nit. so take all of the cc out, i wouldn't worry about the fish or anything, just submerge the bag in the tank and cut it and slowly pour into tank, turn your filters off till it clears or it will take forever to clear up, and cause lots of filter damage, i've learned from others mistakes
mr . salty
Active Member
The removal of the CC and UGF is what causes most of the cloud.As stated before,it is best to remove the fish,Rock,then get as much of the water out of the tank before you start taking out the CC.This will only mess up a small ammount of water.Then get the messed up water out of the tank,and refill...This will leave you with a Clean,unclouded tank...If it does cloud,you should NOT turn the filters off.Rather get a polishing filter pad or floss for the filter and run it till the tank clears...
bobothewizard
Member
Peasely I just did the exact same thing your doing 2 days ago. Im not sure what size tank you have but mine was a 55 gallon. Heres what i did, took 2 1/2 hours.. First I went to my local wal-mart and bought 2 huge plastic garbage cans, they were 26 gallons each, now that only equals 52 gallons but if you have alot of live rock that will take up the extra space. But anyway, while at the wal mart i also picked up a 15 foot garden hose. Now I got home and stood both garbage cans up side by side, stuck one end of the garden hose in the tank, and the other in the garbage can and started the sucking . Lol that water tasted horrible, but anyway after about 15 minutes if that one garbage can was full and another 15 minutes the tank was pretty much drained.
When the tank was almost drained I plucked the fish out and put em in the first garbage can that was already full, also removed all the live rock and corals and stuck them in the other can. Once this was complete i then begam removing the CC out with one of those little plastic shovels you can buy in the toy section of wal-mart or any store with toys. Then after all the crushed coral is removed you will notice a nice pile of mud at the bottom of the tank, i removed it with paper towels. Ohh one thing i forgot to mention was you will find all kinds of living things at the bottom of the tank in your CC, i found some big worms and put em back into the new tank with the sand.
Ok now that all your crushed coral is out and your bottom of the tank was cleaned add your sand, not water or fish add the sand. Now after the sand has been added and you smooth it out and make it look all nice and neat goto the dishes in your kitchen and grab the biggest plate you can find. Food plate.. Place this plate on your sand and begin pouring the water in from your garbage cans, you will have to use a smaller bucked to get the water out of the garbage can since it will be too heavy to lift. Now when you pour the water into the tank make sure you hit the plate first and not the sand, with the water thats coming out. Continue to fill your tank, add your live rock and corals then your fish. Then your done. Thats it simple as that..
When the tank was almost drained I plucked the fish out and put em in the first garbage can that was already full, also removed all the live rock and corals and stuck them in the other can. Once this was complete i then begam removing the CC out with one of those little plastic shovels you can buy in the toy section of wal-mart or any store with toys. Then after all the crushed coral is removed you will notice a nice pile of mud at the bottom of the tank, i removed it with paper towels. Ohh one thing i forgot to mention was you will find all kinds of living things at the bottom of the tank in your CC, i found some big worms and put em back into the new tank with the sand.
Ok now that all your crushed coral is out and your bottom of the tank was cleaned add your sand, not water or fish add the sand. Now after the sand has been added and you smooth it out and make it look all nice and neat goto the dishes in your kitchen and grab the biggest plate you can find. Food plate.. Place this plate on your sand and begin pouring the water in from your garbage cans, you will have to use a smaller bucked to get the water out of the garbage can since it will be too heavy to lift. Now when you pour the water into the tank make sure you hit the plate first and not the sand, with the water thats coming out. Continue to fill your tank, add your live rock and corals then your fish. Then your done. Thats it simple as that..
bobothewizard
Member
No i didnt do it because of a nitrate problem. All the levels were fine but the CC was getting very dirty so i would have had a problem later on. Plus the tank looks soo much nicer. Or as my wife would put it, calmer. It really makes a difference. Now one thing i forgot to mention, if you have delicate fish you might not want to do that because the tank will cycle again, but it will be no where near what happened when you first set up the tank. I had some pretty hardy fish in the tank such as a yellow tang, clowns and a goby, few leather corals. But like i said before everything worked out pretty fine for me. And i will let you know if the tank crashes or not but i dont it will. Any more questions just let me know.
bobothewizard
Member
Since december..
friendofthedevil
New Member
take out your cc live sand is best ps no bio balls and live sand they contradict each other
bobothewizard
Member
Remember to drain that tank completely before removing the cc, you want to get that crap off the bottom. But you want to keep that water, dont throw that away.. thats the important part..
[ October 19, 2001: Message edited by: Bobothewizard ]
[ October 19, 2001: Message edited by: Bobothewizard ]