I feel dumb asking this

J

jamparty

Guest
I have a gravel bed...it's what was in the tank since we bought the house with the tank in the wall. I'm trying to convert the tank to a reef tank and want to get rid of the gravel bed but there are fish in the tank and one shrimp. How do i remove the gravel and replace it with live sand? won't this disturb the fish/shrimp that are currently residing there? Clearly I have to remove all the LR too (of which I have about 90lbs or so and was going to pick up about 20 more) in a 100 g, 6ft tank. I just want to know if there is an easy way to swap the gravel with the live sand.
 
jerthunter

jerthunter

Active Member
I would recommend taking some water out and keeping it in rubbermaid containers and storing your liverock there. If you can get your fish and shrimp easily put them there too. Also have some new water mixed and ready for after you are done. Have a syphon hose ready and scoop the gravel out, use the hose to syphon out any crude that gets stirred up.
Once the gravel is out you can add the sand through a hose or tube so that it doesn't go everywhere, pour the sand through the tube and use the tube to direct the sand where you want it. Once the sand settles you can put the liverock and fish back. Use the new water to replace whatever was syphoned off.
 
J

jamparty

Guest
wow thanks so much!
also another noobie question real quick, how many lbs of LS should i go with?
once again..100 g, 72in. x 18in. x 18in. tank
 
J

jamparty

Guest
Originally Posted by Jerthunter
I would guess around 100 lbs, maybe less maybe more....
would say 2 bags of 40lb live sand mixed with maybe 30 lbs of play sand be acceptable?
also what live sand would you suggest?
 
J

jamparty

Guest
Originally Posted by bill109
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/site_11...ory=0&x=5&y=14
if u want a 2 inch snd bed , u need 105 lbs.
if u want 3 inch sandbed. u need 157.5 lbs.
there is a livesand calculator on the l ink above. just scroll down.

-bill109
yikes are you sure that thing is accurate?
it just told me i needed 975 lbs of live sand! hahah
 
jerthunter

jerthunter

Active Member
Oh, just thought of something else. You probably want to put a powerhead in the container with your liverock and depending on how long it will be maybe a heater.
It looks like my guess was pretty good from what the sand calculator said.
Also you might want to consider placing the rock, atleast the bottom pieces, first before you add the sand. That way it keeps the rocks from shifting over time.
As far as sand, if you want to save money I would go with mostly dry sand and maybe one bag of live sand. Try to get sands that look similar so it doesn't look wierd.
 
bill109

bill109

Active Member
Originally Posted by JamParty
yikes are you sure that thing is accurate?
it just told me i needed 975 lbs of live sand! hahah
yeah. first one is length , second is width i think and the last one is the depth of the sand bed not ur last tank demansion,!
type in
72
18
(desired sand bed depth)
 
jerthunter

jerthunter

Active Member
Originally Posted by JamParty
yikes are you sure that thing is accurate?
it just told me i needed 975 lbs of live sand! hahah
Just a shot in the dark here, but did you put the depth of your tank instead of the depth of the sand bed?
 
J

jamparty

Guest
Originally Posted by Jerthunter
Oh, just thought of something else. You probably want to put a powerhead in the container with your liverock and depending on how long it will be maybe a heater.
It looks like my guess was pretty good from what the sand calculator said.
Also you might want to consider placing the rock, atleast the bottom pieces, first before you add the sand. That way it keeps the rocks from shifting over time.
As far as sand, if you want to save money I would go with mostly dry sand and maybe one bag of live sand. Try to get sands that look similar so it doesn't look wierd.
you have been extremely helpful, and I thank you.
btw...i use a wet/dry bioball filtration...i want to convert it to a refugium...can you point me in the right direction?
 
J

jamparty

Guest
Originally Posted by bill109
yeah. first one is length , second is width i think and the last one is the depth of the sand bed not ur last tank demansion,!
type in
72
18
(desired sand bed depth)
whoops!
hahaha
ok i feel dumb now
 
jerthunter

jerthunter

Active Member
Originally Posted by JamParty
you have been extremely helpful, and I thank you.
btw...i use a wet/dry bioball filtration...i want to convert it to a refugium...can you point me in the right direction?
I would say once you get the new sand and new rock settled in the tank slowly start taking out the bioballs. I'm not sure what your sump is like but once the bioballs are gone try to hook up a lamp in the sump and add some sand and macroalgae.
 
J

jamparty

Guest
Originally Posted by Jerthunter
I would say once you get the new sand and new rock settled in the tank slowly start taking out the bioballs. I'm not sure what your sump is like but once the bioballs are gone try to hook up a lamp in the sump and add some sand and macroalgae.
cool, thanks again!
 
veni vidi vici

veni vidi vici

Active Member
i just replace my gravel with LS not to long ago ,what a pain in the ......
But it was well worth it.i just took out the fish move my LR to one side and started removing gravel with a plastic bowl,one side at a time. then i added LS.the LS i bought had something called Bio Magnet with it to help settle tank .ill tell ya it worked good too.BTW i shut down filter befor i did this.
Good luck.
 
J

jamparty

Guest
Originally Posted by Veni Vidi Vici
i just replace my gravel with LS not to long ago ,what a pain in the ......
But it was well worth it.i just took out the fish move my LR to one side and started removing gravel with a plastic bowl,one side at a time. then i added LS.the LS i bought had something called Bio Magnet with it to help settle tank .ill tell ya it worked good too.BTW i shut down filter befor i did this.
Good luck.

haha thanks!
how big was yoru tank and how much LS did you put in it?
did you mix play sand with it or no?
 
veni vidi vici

veni vidi vici

Active Member
75 gal tank and i put 40 lbs of ls and 50 lbs of aragonite sand .it gave me about 2 inches of sand. i stayed away from the play sand because depending on who you speak with they will give different advice and practically all said i couldnt go wrong with aragonite.
 
J

jamparty

Guest
Originally Posted by Veni Vidi Vici
BTW i changed out my tank in a couple of hours and it really wasnt that bad ,just messy.
sweet, so you think 40lbs of ls would be fine for me? and then just fill the rest with the other sand?
or should i go with say 60 lbs of ls and the rest aragonite?
i'll need about 155lbs of sand in total for a 2" sand bed
is 60/95 a good ratio? or should i make it more equal?
 
jerthunter

jerthunter

Active Member
Since you are doing this in an established tank you have a few things to consider. The livesand will most likely have some die off so if you add a bunch it may cause a spike in your levels. For the dry sand, rinse it with pure water to get rid of the dust so you don't cloud you water. Over time the live stuff from your livesand will spread into the rest of the sand so you really don't need to spend the extra money on alot of livesand.
You can use play sand or buy dry sand from a fishstore.
 
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