CC 2 DSB changeover done

[mrfish]

I converted to a DSB (5")this weekend -
I put MrFish (my clown) into a temporary tank and took out all the decorative coral, crushed coral and UGF from the main tank. I washed the sand and then placed it in the tank. I am now running the filter and skimmer for a few days to let it all settle. I will be adding LR this weekend. I have a mature trickel filter so hope not to get a cycle.
It was a long slow process and made a horrible mess even with washed sand, and I can not see how people manage to do this a bit at a time in a live tank.
I used kids play sand which is very fine, and my sump return flow is disturbing it, so need to find a way to stop this (maybe put some course stuff where the flow hits the sand? In fact I am a bit concerned that the sand may be too fine and bottom dwellers or fish swimming near bottom may constantly cause clouds of sand to be kicked up, any thoughts? Looks good though.
Any advise for a new DSB owner?
Dave.

 

[steamboat1569]

I hope you keep us informed of the processes your tank goes through. I will be doing this in the future and am curious of what changes take place, especially of and varying in your test readings. I am sure this is a major upset to the tank and it's inhabitants and would like to know what happens.

 

[mrfish]

OK, I'll update as things happen for those interested. I solved the return flow disturbing the sand problem by putting an elbow on the return pipe so the watar flows into the tank at an angle rather than straight down.
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 5
PH - 8.5
SG - 1022
Temp - 79
Remember though at the moment I have not put the fish back in. Its still in the QT tank.
I will hopefully be getting some live rock this weekend.

 

[saltyrich]

For those interested, I accomplished this without pulling all of the rock out. You can shift things around and do it. For anyone considering a changeover in the future, use a medium diameter piece of PVC pipe from home depot. Pour the sand through the pipe with it placed on the bottom, that way you can control where the sand goes and minimize water clouding. It worked great for me.

 

[saltyrich]

Remember to place the old cc in small panty hose balls so the critters and bacteria can filter out into the new sand. Put them all in for several days then start removing 1 or 2 every couple off days until done.