converting

[chevydragtruck]

ok, all, my LFS is giving me a great deal on 50 lbs of fully cured LR, I am wanting to convert my CC to DSB.............as soon as I find some white sand I will be doing that, now the question that I have is if I do all that at once will my tank cycle? I have some LR in there now, and about 20 lbs of LS that I am going to sift from the CC. I ran all this by my LFS and they said that my tank shouldn't "miss a beat". anyone have any sugestions? and also, how many pounds of sand are needed to make about 5" bed? I have read about making the bed, and no one said how much it took.

 

[rabid frog]

there is a formula on here some where you may have to do a search for it.

 

[nm reef]

If you are talking about an established system...sifting the sand from your crushed coral and replacing it with new sand plus the addition of 50lbs of cured LR could start a mini cycle. Even if the LR is fully cured the disruption of the sand bed alone can be a source of concern.
Is there any way you could temporarily remove the fish and other critters? I'd bet you wouldn't need to keep them out for long but I would at least have them removed until the system re-settles...and you insure things are alright as far as any spikes in ammonia. Its not likely but you could have a serious spike in ammonia that could be lethal to the fish/critters you've listed.
In regard to the amount of sand formula:
length x width x desired depth x .0579 = lbs sand for desired DSB

 

[rane]

I would say 1.5 to 2lbs of sand per gallon, thats what I did with my tank and got a pretty good size sand bed, on my 155gl I am using 250lbs of southdown and I am going to add 40 or 50lbs of live sand on top...anyone think otherwise please let me know but I like the way it looks.

 

[chevydragtruck]

ok, I found some white sand at a pool place.........it's a little bigger than sugar grain....it's called "Mystic White" it's used for pool filters, any thoughts on this?

 

[chevydragtruck]

ok, 100 lbs of dead sand, and 40 lbs of live sand are in........got about 5 inches deep, do I need to let it the cloudiness settle before I put my fish and inverts back in?