Removing crushed coral...

[pthoma79]

I bought my LS from another site, and it's kind of a combination of sand and crushed coral. The coral built up on top of the sand along the glass, and I could see waste building up under it, so I decided to remove the larger pieces of cc with a net, and let the finer sand drain out. Two questions:
-First, is this a good idea, or should I just leave it the way it is? The corner of the tank I did this to looks 100% better, and now has mostly sand with a few small pieces of coral.

-Second, when I took out some of the cc, the water obviously clouded up. Should I be worried about stirring up too much waste and nitrates and stuff to where its going to harm the fish?
Thanks for the help.

 

[garnet13aj]

It's fine to slowly scrape the cc out as it sifts to the top. The clouded water looks nasty but it will settle fairly quickly.

 

[snakeblitz33]

scoop out a little CC at a time, maybe in fourths of your tank... AFTER you scoop out as much as needed, do a water change. Simple.

 

[pthoma79]

OK, great. Yeah, I just figured I'd do 1/4 of the tank a day. What do you think, about a 10-30% water change after?