Sand Questions

[oo bubbagump oo]

I have a crushed coral sand bed. Are there any pros/cons to using crushed coral? Any pros/cons with the finer stuff?
If I do end up switching over to the finer arag-alive stuff, what steps should I take?
Justin

 

[tamstoy]

I had crushed coral in my tank and just switched to a DSB. I couldn't get my nitrates down with the cc and now I have no detectable nitrate. When I removed my CC you would not believe all of the yuck in it. I'm sure if you do some research you will find all kinds of good ideas on making the change. The company that I bought my sand from sent me directions. All went pretty smooth but was a little stressful!!

 

[oo bubbagump oo]

Thanks brah man. Tell me where I can find these directions.

 

[cb]

You can drain the water out of your tank into coolers or large clean trash cans and then put your fish in there with a powerhead. Remove the cc and the add the sand ,we put a 2 1/2 gal bucket in the tank and added the old water back into the tank that way. this disturbs the sandbed less and you are less likely to have a sandstorm. It will probaly be a little cloudy but should clear within a couple of days and this will not hurt the fish.

 

[nm reef]

A long time ago I made the switch and basically I removed all my corals and LR to ice chests with just enough tank water to cover them. I also removed water into 5 gal buckets. There was about 6" of tank water left and I removed about 90% of the Crushed Coral. I then placed about 100 lbs of aragonite based sands then set a plate on top and poured the tank water back in. As the display filled up I replaced the LR and some corals. Eventually I had every thing back in but there was a serious sand storm...water was very white...I used a couple of mechanical hang-on type filters to help settle things down. Within 48 hours everything was clear and I was able to position my LR and corals. All the coral and fish survived...but next time I assure you I will start with aragonite based sands and will never attempt to change over from crushed coral to aragonite. It was a major pian in the arse...but my transition went smooth...considering the trouble it took.
If you plan it out in advance and take all steps you can think of to insure the safety of your LR/corals/fish...it can be done. But believe me it is not a pleasent experience.