Mods...anyone, immediate help!!??

[saltrookie]

Ok guys and girls, quick question for you. I started off with CC but, would like to switch to LS, my tank has cycled and I have live rock in it along with fish and cleaning crew. My question....if I take the live rock out and put in QT tank and CC out and put in QT tank, take water out and put in CLEAN buckets THEN.....put LS back in already establised tank, water back in and LR back in along with the fish and cleaning crew I already have....will I have another cycle?? Do I need to wait and put fish and cleaning crew back in or will this be fine?? Please answer...all that have advice, I would like to do it this weekend. Can I add more fish or would I need to wait??

 

[symon]

Well i had the same problem, the tank i Inherited had CC in it, I could tell right away that i didn't like the CC, so i started taking it out, took me a few weeks but got all but about 1/5 - 3/4 of and inch out, I added the live sand in on top of what was left of the CC, yea yea i know, gonna get flamed but hundreds! But it took me 3-4 weeks to get the CC out, and 3- 4 weeks to add in what i wanted for a sand bed!
You will be much happier once you change over, your tank will look better and water will be more stable! Take your time, rinse your sand, take you time, watch your levels!
oh yea and Good Luck!

 

[lubeck]

I am not a mod
But I just swicthed over in December.There is a possibility you would have a small cycle. it depends on a few things. how big is your tank?
There are some problems with the order in which your doing things though IMO.
have your QT with powerheads and heaters ready.
Carefully, without stiring up ANYTHING, take out 1/2 your water. put it in your QT
Add your LR to that water
start removing your live stock, If they are too fast or not cooperating, remove more water carefully.
once all livestock is in QT add remaining water to QT
Options: you could do a 10-20% water change and not keep all the water at this time but don't go over 20 percent or you may be more apt of having a cycle. Also, with that 10-20 percent water change, if you decide to do it, you could rince some of the junk off of your live rock which, in the long run, help filtration.
back to the procedure;
once you are down to the last 5 inches of water;
take a shop vac and suck out the cc. Why do you want to save it? its garbage. Although, i was told and thought it worked well. I took panty hose and filled it with my "live" Crushed Coral and left it in my tank to seed the sand.
once all the cc is out.
ADD BASE LIVE ROCK FIRST
Then add sand
then build your live rock how you want
then slowly pour your old salt water over the live rock until teh tank is full.
Once temp and cloudiness goes away(should only take an hour) put the live stock back in.
Check your parameters within the next few days and do a couple water chages if noticing fluctuations.
You will be happy with the change