how hard is it to cc-ls?

[kassy]

55 gal 2 years old fish only 50 lb live rock 6 fish 2 stars 2 cleaner & 5 peppermint shrimp hermit crabs snails and and 1 very clumsy horseshoe crab - is it worth switching over? I doubt I'll every have live coral but if I wanted too would it be necessary?

 

[kassy]

Was wondering if it was healthier for the tank itself. 2 years and everything seems fine just hear a lot of people saying how great live sand is. Although I'd like the look of sand I'm afraid to try to change this over and end up crashing my tank or re-cycling after all this time. Think I'm going with "if it ain't broke don't fix it" THANKS

 

[spongebobsquarepants]

I agree with jwtrojan44, if everything is fine, I'd leave it. I made the switch because of nitrate build-up, and secondly for the different look. What I planned on being a 4 hour project took over eight. Was a stressful experience for both me and the fish. Looks great now and nitrates are non-exsistant, but dont know if I'd do it again.

 

[jla9508]

I made the switch about a month ago in my 55 gal. I only had one fish in at the time. It is a very long, slow process if you have fish in the tank. I used my fish net to remove the cc. I only removed about two scoops at a time, letting the debris I stirred up settle before removing anymore. After removing all of it I put some sand in a ziploc bag, slowly took it to the bottom of the tank and slowly poured it on the bottom. You have to take your time and go slow to prevent any clouding. The fish was fine and I didn't have any problems with it.

 

[mr.fish.guy]

If you ever do decide to make the switch it may be a little easier to syphon out the cc when doing a water change, but try using just the hose part. this allows you to take out the crushed coral and not as much of the water(or better said not as fastdue to a smaller intake and you can have a little more time to focus on the cc being removed)