changing the sand out in my tank??

[baseball player]

I would really like to change my sand from black to white, and was wondering what the steps would be in doing so. I will only do so if there is an effiicient and surefire way of keeping my livestock from dying. I have an extra 14 gallon tank and i think i will put the livestock in there for the duration of this process. i would also like to put my live rock in another bucket of saltwater and keep circulation going in there. then i would just empty out the sand and put the new sand in. im just wondering if this is the most effiicient and feasible way to change the sand in a tank.??

 

[decrypter]

dont do it! just my oppinion white also reflects more light and generates less heat. but its your tank so you should do whatever is gonna make you happy i would add bio spira after you swap sand to re add some of the good bacterias you will lose. good luck! whats in your tank fish only softies lps sps mxed?

 

[mps9506]

Just siphon out a small amount of sand every time you do a water change. Maybe an 1/8 or 1/16th of the total volume of sand. After two months no more sand and you can add whatever sand you want. That will give time for the tank to adapt to the smaller surface area for bacteria to grow on.
Just keep an eye on your nitrogen levels in the process.

 

[slakker]

if the sand is a large component of your LR/LR biofilter system, then removing it may not give enough substrate for your bacteria to grow on. What if you build a large temporary sump... then slowly fill with sand or rock to give more substrate for the bacteria to grow on. Let that stabalize, then slowly take sand out of the main tank. The extra rock/sand may help? I'm just theorizing as I've never done this.

 

[stonedfish]

I did what the guy above said. I took some out every week. Then I replaced one half at a time. I changed from crushed coral. It might be trickier changing colors though. Are you going to remove the rocks? Be careful for rockslides! Other than that it worked out O.K. for me. Used the funnel and a piece of pipe to put the new sand in. Good luck!

 

[fatman]

The information you have given is really to limited to provide any quality recommendtion without discussing a lot of possibilities. Any difficulties you are going to have will relate to a few different things. How deep is the existing sand? Do you also use live rock in your tank, and if so how much? How long has the sand been in the tank? If your sand is shallow and you have live rock in any substantial amount then removing all the sand at once likely will not cause a lot of problems. Shallow sand would not likely be providing a huge amount or proportion of your tanks nitrification if you have appreciable amounts of live rock. If you choose to remove the rock and fish, then the easiest way would be to siphon a great majority of the water out into a large trash container, remove the rock, then remove the fish. Then remove and keep the rest of the water down to the sands level. Remove the sand. Depending on your preference as to placing the rock on the bottom or on top of your sand. Put in the new rinsed sand, part of the water, the rock, most of the rest of the water, then the fish, followed by the rest of the water and as much new water as needed to fill the tank. All while trying to keep the cat away from the fish and every thing the same temperature. If you have a deep sand bed and little live rock, it is all a different story.