Replacing CC w DSB or LS

jauringer

jauringer

Member
I know there has been a lot of posts about replacing there CC. I took the plunge a few days ago and it was not as bad as i thought it would be. I Ripped out my UGF and scooped out all of the CC with a Net and then replaced it with 20lbs of DS and 20lbs of LS. The live sand is already wet so it didn't make too big of a mess in my tank. The DS Just needed to be rinsed and it worked just the same. It only took a few days to clear up and my fish are doing great. Now i can get a clean up crew and hopfully not have to worry about my nitrates as much. For anyone thinking of doing the same thing. It is definatly worth it. it took all of about 2 hrs.
 
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angelofdeath132

Guest
thinking about doing the same thing in my 55. hate crushed coral substrate. wish i would've read more before i dove into the hobby head first.did you remove the fish from the tank before you changed it over? or did you just leave 'em in the tank?
 
nacl-man

nacl-man

Member
Angelofdeath -
I believe it depends on how long your tank has been up. If it is well established I would move your fish out into a Q-Tank before you remove the CC... all the gunk that gets kicked up could have adverse effects on your fish. Keep them in the QT until your levels stabilize and you should be good to go.
I'm sure others will have their own opinions on this matter though.
Cheers.
 
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angelofdeath132

Guest
tank has been up and running for about 10 months. how long should it take for my levels to go back to normal? the only reason i'm wondering is because i only have a 10 gallon rubbermaid to keep the fish,inverts and 10lbs. live rock in while i change all this over, any suggestions?
 
jauringer

jauringer

Member
I kept my fish in the tank, I didn't do anything special. My crushed coral was only in there 3 months. i moved my rocks to one half of the tank and hearded my fish into the rocks. then i took a large net and scooped out all of the CC on that side. next i moved my rock to the other side and repeated the same steps. I rinsed all of the dead sand in a gallon milk jug with the top cut off, and added it to the tank one cup at a time. Then i shut off the lights for the rest of the night. My gravel wasn't my main source of biological filtration so i have not had any readings for amm, trites or trates. I was much easier than i imagined and i love it. i am getting a clean up crew tomorrow
 
nacl-man

nacl-man

Member
angelofdeath-
If you have an undergravel filter I would recommend taking your fish out during the operation. You will have a significant amount of detrius in your CC and under your UGF... vaccum it before taking it out and you should not notice any serious change in your levels. Just a percaution to take the fish out.
You can use the method jauringer mentioned... and prob be OK. But 10 months is a significant amount of time...
I would be more inclined to take the fish out however.
HTH.
Cheers and good luck!
 
tgolbus

tgolbus

Member
I am thinking about doing this as well.....
How much sand did you use, and how much of each type. what is a commerial brand that I can pick up to use with the live sand?
I assume the live sand goes on top....
I was told never to rince off live sand. Was my LFS full of it?
 
jauringer

jauringer

Member
well you don't want to rinse off live sand!!! It has a lot of beneficial bacteria that would be sacrificed in fresh water, However you do want to rince off dead sand. dead sand just keeps you from spending a buch of money on LS. I only added 20lbs of each. I told you guys earlier that my water perameters were fine afterwards. well i tested my water tonight when i got home and nitrites are @ .1 and nitrates are at 2.5. they were at 0 last night. I did not see a rise in amm (0). I definatly need to add a clean up crew when my water test reach 0, I can see crap every where now that i have sand. I would definatly recomend making the change from CC.
 
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thomas712

Guest
TGolbus - In the tank you really cant tell the diff between live and dead sand as it all becomes live.
Live sand is that which has the benifical bacteria that helps to breakdown the ammonia into nitrites and then into nitrates and then into a harmless gas that escapes the aquarium. Live sand can also contain many benifical bugs (infauna) that help stir the sand, these may consist of pods and worms, and are necessary to the overall sandbed health.
Dead sand is something dry that you can if you like start your aquarium with to help keep costs down as it is normally cheaper to begin with. To this you add a layer of livesand on top of the dead sand in order to seed it with the live bacteria. You normally do not want to take any sand out of the aquarium unless you are giving a cup to a friend to help seed his tank.
Thomas
 
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