cc vs live sand- should I remove cc???

[lkb3493]

After reading all the posts on this message board it looks like I made a mistake buying crushed coral. I have live sand and regular sand but hubby said the ocean floor isn't that perfect and said we needed to buy cc also. UGH! Now I am

. Should I remove the cc? Also, if I do I am assuming I cannot add live sand because my tank has already cycled and I have a royal gramma and a pepermint shrimp in there. Adding live sand would start another cycle right? Should I just scoop some out (cc) here and there and slowly add plain sand?
I also only have about 25 pounds of live rock in my 55 gal tank. Again it has fully cycled but I really wanted to add more. I was just on a very tight budget at the time. Can I only add base rock at this point or can I add very small amounts of live rock? I guess I wouldn't be able to get very good pieces if I had to add small amounts of live rock though huh....

 

[turningtim]

If you added the LS I doubt that you will see another cycle. You may see a small spike but your LR should be able to handle it. The problem with mixing substrate is the CC will find its way to the top, so the sand will become useless. The other issue is that you need to keep CC clean by vacuuming. By doing this you will just suck the sand out.
If you can buy CURED LR from your LFS then you can add that right in the tank w/o harm. I think you would be fine adding small pcs at a time you could pick what you wanted. But make sure that it's already cured.
Right now you have a very small bio-load and a small amount of LR. JMO I would remove everything from the tank, place it in a large rubbermaid container (w/heater/powerhead) and deal with the substrate. You can sift the sand and CC mix. Get rid of the CC and place sand back in the tank. Fill with the old water that you saved, let the tank settle and put the fish, LR back.

I did the switch in about 4 hrs and I had a lot more fish.rock and corals to deal with. Start in the morning and you should have happy fish by the late afternoon. :happyfish
HTH
Tim
BTW Welcome to the boards!

 

[dottiekh]

Yep. That is exactly what I did, and it worked wonderfully. I saw an immediate difference in my tank and in my fish. I have also been adding lr a piece at a time, as I can afford it. I get it from my lfs, and put it right in the tank and I have never had any problems.
Good luck.

 

[lkb3493]

Thanks for all of your help!

That is what I will do then. I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't been so lucky to find this board and the people on it

 

[saltfan]

It would depend on how fine of CC you have in your tank. If you have the X-Fine CC I would just mix the LS with it. If you have the large CC, then I would replace as the above have stated. I have x-fine cc in my tank and have never had a problem with any of my numbers. The x-fine cc is almost as tiny grain as the sand, and I like the cc because its a natural ph buffer and never needs to be replaced.

 

[dieselndix]

does live sand ever have to be replaced?

 

[turningtim]

ikb, Couple of things, rock should be placed on the bottom of the tank and sand placed around the rock. You can use a pc of 2"x28" pvc with a 2"-4" reducer as a funnel to transfer the sand to the bottom of the tank. This will reduced the sand storm, just becareful and don't move to fast. I have added sand this way with the tank still full.
I have use both CC and LS in my tanks (FW/SW) and have not noticed any difference in the buffering capacity if you use Argonite sand. The buffering capacity of the substrate is nominal at best!
JMO
Tim

 

[turningtim]

Originally Posted by dieselndix
does live sand ever have to be replaced?
No it shouldn't but you must maintain it. The use of sand sifting critters is the way to go. Every once in a while I give some sections a little stir, but my conches,snails etc. keep up pretty well.
Tim

 

[thomas712]

Originally Posted by dieselndix
does live sand ever have to be replaced?
There may be some cases where it should be, sometimes if things are not right with a sand bed it can form a very hard crust on top and everything underneath becomes an anoxic sink hole. If you ever broke into it then it could kill everything in the tank, but that rarely happens.
You need several critters namely pods and worms to help take care of that sandbed. Most of the microscopic critters take care of themselfs. Its called infauna, critters that live in and under the sand bed.
Take care

Thomas