subtrate change question

[bobo]

i am considering converting one of my tank to dsb from cc. i heard different opinions on whether to keep the cc and just mix in with the sand or to chunk all cc out altogether and just have sand. any definite opinions out there with reason why it's better? this is what that tank is doing right now...
undergoing hypo. was established for more than 7 months. after the hypo i am thinking about putting in southdown first with live sand on top then replacing the live rocks i took out for hypo. is it ok for me to put the livestock back in immediately after sand settles? also, am i going to loose a significant amount of by biofitration if i chunk the cc altogether? i will keep most of the water in there along with whats in the mechanical filters. please let me know your opinion...

 

[kinetic180]

I recently switched from cc to a dsb. I switched it all out at the same time, mainly because I wanted to get rid of my ugf. I bought several 20 gallon buckets and transferred most of the water into two of these, transferred the live rock into one of these buckets, and then I moved the lifestock into the other bucket w/ the heater and an airstone. I placed some of the cc into pantyhose(and cut holes for the critters to get out) and then put the pantyhose in the bucket w/ the live rock. I added the sand, then the water, live rock & pantyhose, and finally the livestock. I waited about an hour to let the sand settle a little bit before i added my fish back into the tank. Everything went very smoothly and I kept the pantyhose w/ the old cc in my tank for over a month before I removed it. I think it went extremely well and it only took me about six hours to complete the whole job. Also, underneath the ugf was extremely, extremely nasty so I was glad I changed it all at once.
(I followed that procedure from advice on this board).
Jen

 

[maryc137]

Don't leave the CC in because the sand will filter to the bottom, and you'll still have the ugly CC on top.

 

[thomas712]

In my opinion the sand is a better choice of substrate. You do not need to vaccum it. It has far more surface area for holding the benifical bacteria. Is less dangerous to your infauna...that is pods, worms and other bugs, and is a much more natural look in the tank.
If you were to mix the two the CC would work its way to the top and trap the fish waste anyway. Mix the two and you reduce the benifit of the sand. Add inverts and they tend to do less well with the sharp crushed coral. You will also be stuck trying to vaccum only the top layer of CC and you might very well desturb the anerobic area of the sand underneath causing you to loose all your fish and inverts depending on amount of sand and or CC that you have.
Crushed coral is high mantinance
Sand is low mantinance
Thomas

 

[bobo]

thanks for the reply, that was very helpful. i'll do the pantyhose thing. i'll have to buy some first since my wife doesn't use them. if i get stares at the store i'll just put my hand on my hip, snap at them, and tell them "mind your own business, b!tch!" to say the truth i'm not too worry about the critters in my cc right now since i'm doing a hypo on it already and my angel has eaten most of the pods from it anyways. i just want to keep the bacteria from it. the critters i'll have left will be from my live rock.