How to change your sand

[clown-keeper99]

My tank has this thing were on day the water is crystal clear and the next its like looking into a bowl of soup
My LFS and some people on reef central have told me that the problem could be in my DSB and/or my live rock
Since my dad would kill me if I told him that I need to change my LR sincec we just built the liveframe, I think I'm going to ditch most of my live sand for fine crushed coral sand
any Ideas on how to best do this withought upseting my tank to much

 

[meowzer]

Have you tried vacuuming the sand?
Get one of these
http://www.**************.com/images/Categoryimages/normal/p-73689-55602-fish-supply.jpg
You hook it up to your sink....very easy.....and it does not disturb the whole tank because you place the tube into the sand and it sipohons out the crap.....I just did my sand a couple of weeks ago...
just be careful and do 1 section at a time....don't try to do the whole sb all at once

 

[tank a holic]

I had the crushed coral and went through the process of changing it to live sand. I'd think it over before you take this step because I like the sand much much better

 

[clown-keeper99]

I do to
but the crushed coral should be easier to maintain

 

[tank a holic]

There's alot of things you can get to sift your sand and clean it for you. Fighting conch's, snails, cleaner clams etc...
If you have crushed coral you need to clean it yourself using the siphon kit meowzer posted...
What kind of filtration do you have, it could be a problem with that and not your sand bed

 

[fau8]

invest in snails that burrow into the sand bed switching to crushed coral is not the way to go.

 

[clown-keeper99]

A coralife 65 superskimmer and trickle filter
plus I worship my water changes (5 gallons a week)

 

[snakeblitz33]

It also depends on your livestock. Certain fish, inverts, clams, and corals require sandbeds in order to survive longterm.