Changing crushed coral for sand

[Scottkutanzi]

Thanks for the input


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[Myka]

If I were you I would siphon out the crushed coral and the sand, and replace it with new sand. Use a siphon hose (1/2 - 5/8" should work fine) and suck out the full depth of sand/CC. Do 1/4 at a time, for 4 weeks. Remove 1/4 and replace with new sand that day so the edges of the old sand aren't exposed. Just make sure you do the full depth in one go (don't suck out the top layer one week then the next layer the next week). Know what I mean?

The idea is to prevent anaerobic areas from becoming aerobic (which kills that area and will create ammonia spike), and to prevent getting noxious areas into the water column. Doing it over 4 weeks allows the critters in the old sand to populate the new sand.

I'd also suggest you have some Prime or AmQuel on hand, and put a SeaChem Ammonia Alert badge in the tank for the weeks while you're changing out the sand.

[AquaAddict]

You could remove a few scoops a day. Concentrate on one small area. Then add the new sand to that area.

Do it gradually and you shouldn't have any problems. This method worked for me but I was removing and adding crushed coral - only way to keep the sand on the bottom of my 100 gal bowfront corner tank.

AquaAddict

PS I once had one my Maxi Jet power head's suction cups give way and it removed all the sand down to the glass on one side of the tank. The water was opaque white! I put it back and nothing happened to the tank - lps, sps reef.

[gregzz4]

+1 to Myka's recommendations
Plus, when siphoning, if you run across any black-tinted sand remove ALL of it in one go as this is hydrogen sulfide (did I get that right?) and you don't want that getting into the water column