You could just get rid of it over several sessions if you're concerned about impacting the water quality.

Anyway, BB scores yet another victory over the evils of sand.

sandbed removal
 

There seems to be different experiences when removing a sandbed. Some people have no problems at all but there have been many reports that their tank goes through a slump right after or shortly after a sandbed removal. I went through a slump after removing a very very thin level sand bed and in the future, I would do the following:

1) prepare enough preheated saltwater for a 100% water change. when you remove the sandbed, you will be removing lots of water and prepare for sand volume replacment.

2) run carbon right after

3) run phosphate remover right after

4) try to take it out in one shot although I found it quite impossible to do so.

5) if you have a sump, run the drain into a micron filter bag

6) make sure your skimmer is clean and set it to wet skim if you are able to adjust the skim mate consistency


hope that helps

evil sand
 

actually i think sand is like the angel of death. It looks so nice but it hides so much of the evils within :biggrin:

Haha, Tony... no where near the 2 mark for me :razz: .. I dunno why it's such a hard thing to get done really... I guess it's finding the time and money for me... as it would have to be done in one day as the tank would be in the same spot... bah,, It WILL get done one day soon...

Chin, thanks for your tips and suggestions.. the tank is 20g so removing all of it shouldn't be too hard at all. My main problem is that the tube siphons so fast that it drains out my water so quickly... so it makes it quite a PITA to do..

I will do it all in one shot.. I have plenty of carbon to run and I always skim heavy in my tank.

I am either going to empty it tonight or tomorrow, so I'll post before and after shots and what not...

Thanks again all... :)

IMO, the tank tank being just 20 gal.... I would just find another 20 gal and swap everthing but the sand.

Or put everything into buckets,clean the tank right out and use new water.

I'd do what Quagmire suggested. That way if there is any problem of toxins released from the sandbed, it all goes out with the old water and you won't need extra skimming or carbon.

Yeah.. that makes the most sense I guess.. just make up some SW and change everything out.

Thats a better idear.

When I removed my SB from a 20gal tank, I removed as much water as I could first, as well as everything else except the sand. All I was left with was the sand and about 1/2 inch of water... took it outside.. tipped the tank and slopped it into buckets.. washed it out.. put everything into the new 50 gal tank. Put in the old water and topped up with new water.. worked like a charm. No deaths and everyone was happy.