Changing substrate

[briterco]

I just celebrated my tank's 1 yr birthday. Everyone has been doing very well, and I hate to mess with success...BUT...I'm considering changing the substrate. Why?
Well, when I got the tank, I was much less informed than I am now , and I bought a tank "kit" from the LFS. The kit's substrate was half live sand and half CC - about 100# in total. Needless to say, I hate it. The CC seems to work its way to the top, and just looks ugly. Plus I just cannot get nitrates below 20, which I suspect the substrate is causing to a large degree.
I have about 100# of live rock in there too. Is changing to a 100% DSB feasible, or am I just asking for trouble? What would be the best way to go about this? Only a portion of the tank at a time? Does the new sand need to be cured/live?
Would appreciate any advice. Thanks!!

 

[thomas712]

Well it shouldn't be to hard, 100 pounds of sand/cc really isn't even 2 inches in a 125 gallon. You could suck it out with a syphon when you do water changes. Just be very careful of your rocks so they don't break any glass.
You can pre cure your new sand in tubs with the water that comes from the water change.
When I set up my 55 gallon fuge I used 120 pounds of new dry aragonite sand and just put water changes in it, let it sit for a couple of weeks with a heater and small powerhead and it was clear when I pluged it into the main tank.
It would be best to take the rocks out if you even think there is a chance of reefalanche. Then when you setup the DSB you can place the rocks on top.
Thomas