Disturbing Sandbed

lefty

Active Member
Hello everyone,
I have a 29g tank that I'm transferring over into a 20g long tank. The sandbed I have is by no means a DSB, but it's about an inch deep. I've heard stories about people disturbing their sandbeds and causing an ammonia spike, among other things. By moving the sand from the 29g to the 20g, it'll inevitably get mixed around some. Do you anticipate this being a problem even though it isn't a DSB? I know mine isn't purely for looks because bubbles rise out from it occasionally. Thanks in advance! :happyfish
-lefty
 

tangs123

Member
if you run a protein skimmer, it will keep the ammonia from going to high,
it shouldn't cause a very high spike if any then
 

hardcrab67

Member
My nitrates went threw the roof when my ph came of the suction cups and blew the sandbed everywhere, ammonia only rose to .25ppm. Had to replace my refuge tank couple months back and the ammonia only rose to .5ppm, nitrates went to 60ppm. Added water changes, like 2 a week, got things back to normal in a couple weeks.
 

dmjordan

Active Member
Disturbing your sandbed will cause both your ammonia and your nitrates to temporarily rise. You can do two things to help with this: do a water change the day after you move your sandbed and another one 2-3 days after that. If your ammonia gets too high you can add some amquel plus to detoxify the ammonia and nitrate. It will still test positive but will be in a less toxic form.
Why are you going from a 29 to a 20?
 

lefty

Active Member
So is it pretty much guaranteed this will happen even though my sandbed's not very deep? And how high would the ammonia need to be for it to harm my clownfish and cleaner shrimp? Also, how big should the water changes be?
I'm moving my tank size down because I'll be moving into a dorm shortly. =)
Thanks for your guys' input! :joy:
-lefty
 

lefty

Active Member
Sorry for all the questions! I have a couple more for you though:
1. Is putting a little bit of new sand on top a bad idea?
2. How does transferring the sand over with a new dustpan sound? The sand would get a lot less disturbed this way.
3. If I do see some ammonia and do a water change, would adding an ammonia eliminating product or bacteria supplement be a bad idea?
I'm really concerned about my fish or shrimp dying from the ammonia spike. They have nowhere else to go besides the new tank, once it's set up, which I don't imagine taking more than one or two hours. During that time I planned on having them in a bucket of tank water with a heater and powerhead.
Thanks once again!
-lefty
 

dmjordan

Active Member
In order:
1. put the new sand in first with the established sand on top otherwise you will bury all living things in established sandbed
2. dustpan, plastic sandbox shovel or a cup will all work transferring sand to new tank. will still cause a spike in trates at the very least.
3. i would go ahead have some amquel plus on hand. amquel plus helps with ammonia, trites and trates. imo i would use it regardless just to be safe and keep your fish alive.
 
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