Switching from cc to southdown dsb

[mini-reefer]

I have been reading every post I can find about the "big switch" so I'll try not to beat a dead horse here with a question I havent seen asked. My plan is to add 20lbs live sand to around 50-75lbs Southdown. So...after the change, will the tank go through a mini cycle since all old substrate is being removed? (I dont want to add all the inhabitants back to the tank right away if thats the case, obviously.) On the other hand the bag of live argonite states there is no cycle time and you can add fish immediately. This is a well established reef with good parameters except for Nitrate levels.(About 40, go figure.) I have a modified Seaclone running on it now and intend to use only it and ls/lr for filtration. If this works well I plan to switch my aggressive tank over as well. Any comments/suggestions will be of great help. Thanks in advance.
Mini-Reefer

 

[mr . salty]

This may trigger a small recycle.But to avoid it you should put handfulls of your CC into nylon stocking(pantyhose) feet.Then place these "feet" into the tank for a few weeks.Remove them a little at a time till the new sand bed establishes the bacteria needed to handle the bio load of your tank.This sounds like a goofy idea,,,BUT IT WORKS...

 

[daluminum]

Hey ma' get your panties hose outta the fish tank.. just kidding..
I bought 100lbs of florida reef sand off of the net.. it comes with worms and small stars and all the goodies.. you think I should seed this sand with the old CC.. Im sure it wouldnt hurt.. just wondering if its neccesarry.. the sand is water packed so I dont forsee too much dieoff.. I paid $82 for 100lbs with shipping.. Im glad I cant get southdown or I wouldnt have bought this stuff..

 

[mini-reefer]

My lfs offered to watch my lion's so I'll be moving my reef inhabitants over to their tank for a few days or so. Tonight I'm going to switch over to the dsb and once all the dust is settled I'll add a fish at a time. I'm going to use the pantyhose process Mr. Salty suggested as well. I'll keep posting updates for those interested in the same switch. It seems to be a hot item.

 

[mini-reefer]

Well I made the change to the dsb. I havent added any fish back to the tank yet but did add some lr with the southdown and ls. I put about 2 cups original cc in the stocking and then tied a knot. Then tied a second knot about an inch from there and then 2 more cups cc then ...you get the point. So now the stocking has four seperate bulbs of original cc. Once I start to remove it I can snip off a ball at a time until the lr/ls is handling the entire bio load. I guess its back to exercising my patience once again until the reef is all back together. I'll keep posting till then.
Mini-Reefer