Changing Sand

[gman52]

I have a 10 gal tank, with 4lbs live rock, 6 hermits, 1 sand snail, and 1 small turbo snail. I have a silica based sand in the tank. I want to change the sand to an aragonate (SP?) sand. What is the best way to do this? I would like to try to avoid totally emptying the tank.
this is the procedure i was thinking, take out of all of the livestock and liverock and put it in a bucket. then take out 3 gallons of water, and try to scoop out all the sand. Next put the new sand in a gallon jug and carefully pour the sand on the bottom of the tank. Let it sit for a few hours, then put the rock and crabs back in the tank. How does this sound.
thanks for the help

 

[zanoshanox]

take out all fo ther livestock, and LR, put it in a bucket, put your heater in that bucket. Then take out about 5 gallons of your water, put that into a container, then scoop out the water. Add about 2 gals of new water, as well as the 5 gallons you took out before after you have changed the sand. Let the sand settle, then put back in rocks, then livestock.