Changing crushed coral for sand

[bl117]

I'm changing all my crushed coral out for sand in my 75gal tank. any suggestions? started pulling out my crushed coral.

 

[masala4080]

Just do it slowly, over a week or two, so ammonia and nitrate spikes dont occure. And prepare to do some water changes, and get some charcole(sp)l from the LFS, to help clear the water. The tank gets pretty dirty. Also if you want, do a search for 'Changing Crushed Coral to Sand' on this site. You will get a ton of info.

 

[900dublr]

charcole? You don't put that stuff in your fish tank. Its called carbon. I changed all my CC at one time. I put all my fish and coral in a small tank and rock in another bucket. Its a real pain but i think its deffinatly worth it. Shut your powerheads and everything off to. When you get finished leave the powerheads off and turn your skimmer and filter on if you have one. I put a big bio wheel on and another filter and it cleared up enough to put everything back in after about 6 hours. :happyfish

 

[bl117]

I'm changing it with the fish in the tank. doing one small section at a time. working rather well so far.

 

[dholmblad]

Sorry to hijack. But what are the benifits from switching from cc?

 

[bl117]

that's not a hijack, that's a valid question. i like the look of it better. it doens't have the support that CC does though. my CC seems to hold algae and whatnot. just looks dirty all the time. i have half my tank with sand and the other half with crushed coral. when you look at the 2, the sand side is much brighter and cleaner looking. plus my wrasse and gobie are enjoying the sand much more. personally i just think it looks better and brighter when the light shines on it. expecially since the sand i have is actually from the beach in florida and looks great.

 

[masala4080]

ya, sorry. I couldnt think of what it was, but now I realize its carbon. Sorry:nope:

 

[900dublr]

algae can grow on sand too. sand is supposed to be healthier because it doesnt trap nitrates like crushed coral.

 

[kdfrosty]

I jsut did the switch in my 50g. I did it all at once. Took my fish out, and put him in a bucket with tank water, PH, and heater for a day. I scopped the CC out, threw it away, and added LS.
I have 27x turnover in this tank, and it took overnight to get crystal clear again. Make sure that you are using carbon filtration, and not a micron cartidge...that was my biggest mistake. Just so you know, I did experience a spike in ammonia, causing a mini cycle. Everything turned out OK, and I only lost one Mexica Turbo Snail.

 

[memphisrei]

bl117: When you say, "I'm changing it with the fish in the tank. doing one small section at a time. working rather well so far."
Can you clarify small section. I bought a 20lb bag of sand from www.saltwaterfish.com and put it in one section of my 55 gl tank (about 1/5 of the tank) and the silt killed two fish (wrasp and angel) and my others looked bad for about a week after the change. The water went completely cloudy and I went through many filter changes before it finally cleared. Maybe 1/5 of the aquarium is too big of a section?
I have cc right now and would love to have all sand, but am scared to attempt another cc-sand change for fear I will kill other fish.
Thanks,
Kayla

 

[bl117]

i am doing small sections at a time. i have a funnel that i pump water into and drop sand in a little at a time and it gets put on the bottom of the tank without making much of a mess.;