Aquascaping, cleaning gravel, and livestock ?'s

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Andrew52984

Member
Hey guys, I am planning on purchasing 25 lbs more of live rock and am going to need to redo my aquascaping of course. I would also like to clean my substrate. Any recommendations on cleaning my substrate(had some hermits that killed each other and there's bits and pieces of them still in the gravel...i hate crabs) and when I redo my scaping should I remove my fish so I don't stress them out? I'd like to remove all my rock and stack it and then put it back in my tank very quickly so I have minimal die off if any....any input would be great. Thanks guys.
 
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chunky

Member
How big of a tank do you have? I'd be worried that adding that much live rock to an already established tank could cause a mini cycle to happen. Otherwise for cleaning sand I like nassarius and cerith snails (and maybe a fighting conch or 2). Also scarlet hermits are the least aggressive of the crabs if you wanted to go that route. If you do get some extra shells in there and they should leave each other alone. I'm not sure about removing the fish. It seems like they will be stressed no matter what you do so I probably would just leave them in there. Just make sure you don't squish any.
 
BEELZEBOB

BEELZEBOB

Well-Known Member
also, too much of a good thing can be bad...

i had 30lbs in an 18 gallon tank with 20 lbs LS.

that much rock created dead spots in my tank
 
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Andrew52984

Member
My tank's a 46 gallon bowfront, and the pieces I currently have in there are pretty small heavy pieces. There's around 30lbs in there now and tank looks half empty, it does however provide a ton of swimming room for the fish.
 
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Andrew52984

Member
Yes, actually lately over the last few weeks I have really sat and looked at my tank and wish I had a sand bed instead of the gravel. When I got the tank it came already established from the lfs as a seahorse tank so the gravel and a few gallons of water were already in it. So being brand new to the hobby at the time I didn't want to try and change anything, I was new to the hobby and wanted to start adding livestock of course. Now with almost six months under my belt I know patience is the key and I'd really like to change to a sand bed just am unsure of the process to do the change and the effect it would have on my livestock. If someone could give me a step by step process on changing it and the equipment needed I'd appreciate it. And wouldn't switching out my substrate cause a cycle, if not full a mini cycle perhaps? Thanks!
 
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