Live Sand

[parrothead]

Ok just two quick questions:
1). I would like to switch from crushed coral to sand. I have a 55 gallon with approx. 70 - 80 pounds of live rock. The tank is a little over a year old also. My question is can I perform just a quick switch by putting my livestock (rock-skipper blenny, yellow tang, ebili angle, 2 firefish gobies, cleaner shrimp, star polyps, and colt coral), my live rock, and existing water into buckets remove the crushed coral and put down the sand, then replace everything? Can it be done this easy?
2). My second question is would it be best to purchase some live sand or will my live rock make store bought dry sand live enough after time?

 

[beth]

You should be able to make the switch as you describe but anything this drastic in nature will cause stress and you may have some casualities.
Also, live sand will already have the "seeding" necessary to help cycle your system. Yes, you can buy sterile sand and wait for it to cycle, but then your system will have to go thru a major cycling process. If you go with the sterile sand, then, I'd suggest that you leave some of your old coral sand in to assist with seeding and cycling. You have a lot of livestock and they will need a good established environment to make it thru this transition.