Made the Switch -- Sand Storm

[scoobydoo]

Ok after reading this board for a few months, I made the switch from cc to southdown. I put all the water, rocks and fish and inverts into a large rubbermaid bucket. I removed the cc and replaced it with the sand and slowly added the water back. I filled the tank (29g) up about half way, added the lr back and filled the rest of the way and finally added the fish and inverts. The process took about 4 hours. As careful as I was with adding the water back I ended up with a sand storm. I finished about 7 pm last night and this morning it has cleared about 85 percent. However, when the sand settled it covered my live rock. Now what do I do????

 

[dreeves]

Just gently fan it off the LR with a net or something...real gently.
I used to worry about it in one of my tanks...but the stinking triggers keep snagging and spitting sand continuously...so i do not even bother anymore...

 

[tizzo]

You can use a turkey baster... completely submerge it and just keep squeezing the bulb, it will shoot the water out and blow the sand off for you. Oh yeah and because you successfully switched...

(I have to wait til I move to change out mine).

 

[scoobydoo]

Thanks for your help:cheer: I'm letting it settle more today while I'm at work and see what it looks like tonight. I'll try to clean the rocks tonight. I know it's going to drive me crazy until I get it done.

 

[boomper]

Scoobs - I am planning on doing the same thing to my 29g this week.....did you cure your LS? and let me know if you experience a spike or mini cycle.

 

[scoobydoo]

Boomper, no I didn't know I was supposed to cure it. It's not actually ls. It's southdown from Home Depot. 50lb bag was $5.99. My decided to switch because although my amomnia and nitrites have been 0 for almost 2 months now my nitrates were rising to between 30-40 and the crushed coral was looking pretty gross even with my clean up crew. When I made the switch I also did about a 10% water change. I haven't tested it yet. I was waiting for the storm to blow over. I'm planning on testing it tonight and will let you know. Wish me luck!!

 

[boomper]

Agreed, CC is just too much of a nuisance. Good luck with everything, looking forward to hearing your progress.

 

[tizzo]

OOOOOHHH, well now that's a whole new ballgame!!! Your sand will float around in your tank until nitrifying bacteria can accumulate on it. Don't worry about blowing it off of your rocks for at least about a week. The extremely fine sand will continue to find it's way back to the top of your rocks!! But at least you made the switch... Did I mention

??

 

[capschamp]

hey scoob- how much of your cc did you keep to seed your sand? the more of that you have in your tank the quicker the bacteria will bond and help end your sandstorm. i had 2 softball sized balls of cc to seed my sand when i switched and it only took a weekend for it to settle down and i was able to put all my inhabitants back in.

 

[scoobydoo]

Tizzo, what made the ballgame change? the water change? I have a feeling if I have to wait a week, I'll go crazy! But I won't waste my time if it won't help. Oh yeah, thanks for the bows.

 

[tizzo]

The game changed when you said you used sand instead of LS. Plain sand is very light, and some will simply not sink until it has that bacteria attached to it. So you can go home tonite and blow it off, but I'm willing to bet it will keep coming back until the sand gets "heavier".

 

[scoobydoo]

Capschamp, I had a ls base with cc on top. I only saved probably and a handfull or two of the ls. I did also add a couple of teaspoons of Nitromax which is live bacteria to replace what I had lost.

 

[capschamp]

With that much bacteria in there you should have all the sand sunk in a couple of days. As is with everything about this hobby-be patient, it'll be over before you know it and you get to deal with whole new set of problems. Don't make the same mistake i did and not have enough flow. I am battling a cyano problem that is just now going away after nearly a month.:happy:

 

[vwbortoni]

Check out my post about sand I had no problems.
I used this method with regular sand and then with LS. Worked both times.

 

[scoobydoo]

Boomper,
It's been three days now and I haven't experienced any spikes yet. My nitrates have gone down to 10 (from 40) which was what I was hoping for. I still have sand that has not settled yet but is almost there. Should be completed in another couple of days.

 

[boomper]

Sounds excellent, I am glad everything is working out for you. My sand will be arriving today or tomorrow, and I am definately looking forward to making the switch. I am still mad that I bought CC to begin with due to a lack of research.....

 

[scoobydoo]

You're right! I wish I had found this board earlier than I did. It would have saved me from making some big mistakes, not to mention the money. Good Luck with your switch.

 

[tizzo]

BAH!!!

 

[scoobydoo]

What's BAH mean?

 

[tizzo]

Because I'm jealous of you!! BAH (hum-bug)!!!