how to change out sand?

[heartben]

hello there.
i am going to change my sand, half established live sand, have store bought (carib sea live sand)
i have some fish in my tank and some soft corals.
i want to know what the best way for me to change the sand out would be? and if i do so, will i have to cycle the tank again before i can put the fish back in it?
i was thinking i woud -
empty most of the water out
put the water in buckets, etc of course. with the fish and rock/ coral.
scoop as much of the sand thats in there as i can out of it
rinse the store bought ls and put that in, and then put in the established sand in and kind of mix it up a little bit....
then!
put everything back in it?
would that be ok?

 

[nycbob]

if u r stirring up ur sandbed, it will cause a mini cycle. i learned the hard way a while back, and lost all of my fish. either run ammonia chips w ur filter, or tk out all of ur livestocks.

 

[heartben]

how long should i let the tank run before i put the fish back in then? this tank has only been set up for about 5.5 weeks.
thanks

 

[1journeyman]

Why are you removing your sand???

 

[tropills]

WHY do all this if you already have a sand bed as your substate?
Originally Posted by heartben
hello there.
i am going to change my sand, half established live sand, have store bought (carib sea live sand)
i have some fish in my tank and some soft corals.
i want to know what the best way for me to change the sand out would be? and if i do so, will i have to cycle the tank again before i can put the fish back in it?
i was thinking i woud -
empty most of the water out
put the water in buckets, etc of course. with the fish and rock/ coral.
scoop as much of the sand thats in there as i can out of it
rinse the store bought ls and put that in, and then put in the established sand in and kind of mix it up a little bit....
then!
put everything back in it?
would that be ok?

 

[bjoe23]

Originally Posted by 1journeyman
Why are you removing your sand???

Originally Posted by tropills

WHY do all this if you already have a sand bed as your substate?
i agree with them, why?

 

[heartben]

i had another post explaining some stuff but no one anwserd my so i started a new post.
pretty much, i started with silca play sand (i read on another forum that it was ok and getting live sand was kind of a waste of money if you bought live rock)
then i started getting all these crazy diatom blooms, mostly from using tap water. i just didnt have enough containers to get the water from the lfs to my house so... meh. im going to do water changes with ro water from now on to change out the water over time.
also some suspect the play sand, and i have been told to change it out with live sand. so i bought live sand and im getting some well established sand also.
SO. im changing the sand and water to get rid of the diatoms...
now... does anyone have any information i can use now that everyone knows whats up! :-D
haha.

 

[nycbob]

having diatoms is part of the cycle. do hv any inverts like snails? they will eat them. get a clean up crew and ur sand will eventually become live. no need to chng it over. if u want, add a little of the live sand u bought into the tank, that way, no cycle!

 

[1journeyman]

If you want to get rid of your sand just syphon it all out.

 

[heartben]

the sand i have is silca sand. i read it was ok to use but now i keep reading how bad it is and it makes me a little nervous
the siphon is an excellent idea...
well, i need a couple votes. who votes just water change and who votes new sand an a water change?

 

[hemicross]

well, for one i suggest you just make a deep sand bed, use the sand you just got along with the sand already in there, how deep is your sandbed right now? you can't go wrong with a deep sandbed as long as you don't go over 5-6" i believe, someone correct me if i'm wrong, the only problem with adding sand to an established sand bed is that you must mix it in or the established live sand will die and a cycle will start. you have to add a little bit of sand a day and mix it gently trying not to kick up to much sand, its going to take a while but its all depending how much sand your adding. if your silca sand is already in there for about 5 months now its ok, just add some crushed coral or aragonite sand to the mix along with live sand if you prefer

 

[angelman]

Fish only or reef?
I have never done it on a reef.
I have changed sand beds many times for customers on fish only systems.
Added some Amquel for I don't know what reason (I guess thinking of keeping spikes down - but when you think of it, that crud is in there already anyhow) and then used a net to gradually scoop the substrate out.
I then just went ahead and added the new substrate.
I would always add live sand as the new one as I love that stuff.
More expensive but absolutely no painful cleaning of it.
Yeah, it made a mess of the water but the fish have always held up fine and the mess would clear in not time once done.
This method allowed me to save the water.