Switching out crushed coral with live sand

[jagermeister]

I'm buying a used salt water aquarium that has been cycled and up and running for about 14 months. It's 55 gallons with about 60 lbs of live rock. The floor of the tank is crushed coral. When I move the tank to my place would it be a good idea to get rid of the crushed coral and use a sand or live sand base instead? Would the tank cycle again? Would this switch harm the fish and inverts? There's 3 fish in the tank right now.

 

[newreefers]

i had an established tank with cc and traded it out for ls. my tank did not cycle again.

 

[diceman]

I also moved from one house to another and at that time switched out my CC for LS. Best move I've made and am very happy I did. You will be too.

 

[croptop]

I mixed the two..works for me.

 

[smalltimer]

I have 2 inch cc in 2 tanks connected to central sump one is sea horse tank with calupra in it...I have killer Turboflotor skimmer and Nitrates stay at 0, I do change 7 gallons per week. Have calcium reactor so I don't add junk to tank, total 100 gallons between tanks and sump....I don't like the look of the dsb.

 

[mr . salty]

A tank will recycle if the denitrafying bacteria that is in the setup is removed or lessened to the point that a new cycle is needed to replenish the supply.In your case,removing the CC will remove alot of this bacteria.But with 60lbs of live rock,it may or may not recycle...Just to be safe there are a couple of things to do,#1,Take the old CC and put it in some cut off feet from pantyhose.Make these balls anout the size of a baseball.Put these in the tank on top of the new sand bed.This will keepthe bacteria in the tank ,then about once aweek remove a ball.#2,go with ALL live sand.If all live sand is used,you will be immediatly replacing the bacteria from the CC with the bacteria that is in the sand..There will be no worry of a recycle,and the CC balls are not needed...Remember,For a DSB to be trult effective,it needs to be at least 4" deep...