Live Sand

mpal

mpal

Member
I just set up my 180 about three weeks ago. And after seeing everyone talk about live sand I am thinking about taking out the crushed coral I already have in there and put sand in. Should I take it out? There is about two inches. Or can I just mix live sand with it? I plan on just doing this as a FOWLR tank and possibly go to a reef set up sometime in the distant future when I figure some of this stuff out.
 
lettheirberock

lettheirberock

Member
even if you dont have fish that dig,the larger cc will eventually work its way to the top. take my word for it it looks like crap.my opinian= take it all out ,and go with sand.
 
mpal

mpal

Member
Thanks for all the advice. One more question though. Do I use mostly dead sand and then just seed it with live sand or go all live sand?
 
cyn

cyn

Member
There are several great posts on this. To sum up what I have learned from them: Remove everything except the cc into a clean new trash can, siphon off most of the water and then remove the cc. Put some of your cc into nylon stockings and place that in the trash can with the other stuff. Clean the tank and dry. Place 'dead' sand covered with ls and then cover that with a trash bag held in place by some pieces of lr. Fill the tank up to about half or so. Remove the trash bag. Return LR to the tank and then finish filling. Return the fish and your done. This is just a summary of other posts and I can say I wish I had known the trashbag secret when I changed out my cc. It would have saved me alot of distress over my water being so cloudy. Oh, I almost forgot, put the cc that is in the nylons on top of the sand when your thru. I have read that by doing this, you do not even need live sand, but I used it anyway. :)
HTH,
cyn
[ December 30, 2001: Message edited by: cyn ]
 
fshhub

fshhub

Active Member
i'd use mostly dead aragonite, and seed it, big difference in cost, home depot sells southdown playsand in some areas,same stuff, and much much cheaper
 
fshhub

fshhub

Active Member
since you have only had your tank three weeks, you probably don't have any livestock yet, do you? if not, justtake out some water, put your lr in it, and change it all at once then replace your lr, circulate until the dust settles, you may go through a mini cycle, but with ls and dry snad, it will probably pass in days
if you do have livestock, i would change it in small incraments, if this is the case, post back, there are a couple of ways it can be done
 
mpal

mpal

Member
fishub, I do have livestock in the tank. One sally lightfoot and two emerald crabs. What are the couple ways that I can change the substrate with them in there?
The way cyn said to make the change sounds pretty good, but I am open to any ideas you may have.thanks
 
ocellaris_keeper

ocellaris_keeper

Active Member
mpal,
your livestock will be fine if you make sure you don't snag them when you remove your CC. I did that with a few of my hermits - fortunately I just tossed 'em back in the tank and they went right back to work.
No worries - except your new sand will feel cold their touch - all of my critters moved to the rock until the temp of the sand equalized.
 
ocellaris_keeper

ocellaris_keeper

Active Member
mpal,
ASFARAS how to remove the CC - I just did half the tank, added half the sand, then removed/added the other half the next day. No problem and no removal of anybody. I had:
4 perc clowns, 6 damsels, 1 sailfin and a ton of hermits/snails.
didn't lose a thing. My tank "soft cycled" (ammonia rose 0.25 for about two hours each time and has been fine ever since.
 
fshhub

fshhub

Active Member
get 2 dividers, about the width of your tank, section off @1/3, remove the cc and replace with sand,wait about 1 or 2 weeka, the cc will seed the sand with bacteria, then do another 1/3, and repeat, pretty simple, if you have lr, you just have to shuffle it a bit, you should experience no spikes either, we didn't
 
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