Live Sand Help!

[oohmiller]

Ok i have a 75gallon tank that used to be fish only, i have recently added some live rock and corals such as colt, xenia, and some polpys. Right now i only have crushed coral on the bottom, but am looking at getting some live sand since it helps with reducing nitrates and what not. my question is if i drain the tank (keeping and using same water again) and take out the crushed coral, and replace it with the sand will my tank be fine, or will it recycle.
I will probably be using part live sand and part aragonite
any help please!

 

[granny]

You have had nitrifying bacteria colonizing your crushed coral-that is one of the things it is good for-so I would anticipate some possible ammonia and nitrite in the tank. do you have an external filter or anything else you have been using for biological filtration?
If not, it would be worthwhile to set up something for the bacteria to colonize prior to removing your crushed coral. Fish could handle a small spike, but your corals cant.

 

[oohmiller]

all i have running is a fluval 304 and a seaclone 150 protein skimmer, with about 40-50Ibs of live rock. Am i still going to get a spike that would kill my coral, if so how would i set up something that would allow the bacteria to colonize?
also i have cleaned out my tank before and washed the crushed coral under tap water and placed it back in and didnt seem to see a spike, my polyps did just fine
all help is appreciated!

 

[granny]

If you are running charcoal or any kind of 'rocky' material in your fluval, that has colonized as well as all that live rock. If you have gotten away with removing it, washing it and putting it back in with no problems, then I dont see why you cant just remove it and replace it with sand without any problems either.

 

[zanoshanox]

2nd ^ what granny said. I just rinse mine and put them back in no problem, be sure to do this over a slow process too, because you want to syphon your water in a way so that it is reusable.