Question on converting to live sand from crushed coral

[DeepBlue]

My tank is 1 year old and having followed a couple of the threads on this forum, I realized one of my problems in my reef is the fact that I am using crushed coral instead of a dsb. I have always had good test results of everything except the Nitrates which stay consistantly at 12.5 - 25 ppm. I have done everything to knock that down to no avail. Then I saw a thread on crushed coral being a nitrate factory.

I purchased 60 pounds of Carib-sea aragonite sand and am planning on doing the conversion this weekend. Now, my question is, should I totally discard the crushed coral or can this be left in place and put the sand on top? There is a lot of life in the crushed coral that I see emerge at night, so I am leary of tossing out the "good stuff". Anyone have some advice?

 

[Warnberg]

Kris, if you are going to replace your dsb I would suggest you do it slowly and you are going to want to get the crushed coral out. However there are other nitrate factories, do you have bio balls? How much flow is in the tank? What else do you have in the tank (livestock)? But removing all the bed you have now and replacing it totally will be too much of a shock to the system, plus your water will turn milky white for a few days.... some things to keep in mind.

 

[Reefstick]

I started my 75G with the FL crushed coral, and then added the sand after it cycled. I tell you what happened, the CC made it's way to the top after about four months. now in my opinion a mix of both is great, but I think I put to much CC in my tank and need to add about 60 #'s more aragonite sand.

 

[DeepBlue]

I do have bio balls right now, but that is going to be changed out as well with live rock. Which brings up another question. Putting live rock in place of the balls, the rock would need to be completely submerged which raises an issue with the water level when the return is shut off for maintenance or power outage. Does live rock in a sump need to be lit?

Flow in the tank is strong with the Catalina 2200 at 600 gph and the power head at 250 gph. Livestock is listed in my signature. I have been careful not to overfeed and do regular water changes every two weeks to remove detrius. I am looking to get a cleaning crew in there as well. One thing at a time though. I just wanted to start with the sand bed first and then move on to the other issues.

 

[Reefstick]

I havn't really noticed a nitrate problem in my tank, but that might be because I have a over sized refugium under my tank, and it is packed with plants.

 

[DeepBlue]

There are so many more things I would love to add to my tank, like a refugium. But, if I am going to build my "dream" tank room in my basement over the next year, I may just hold off on doing so on this smaller one. Eventually, this corner bowfront will be paired up with a large main tank to create a wall display...guess I need to get more business to pay for this....

 

[burning2nd]

i dont have A nitrate factory problem but i do have CC insted of sand.

and i have thought of replaceing, but how?

slowing week by week scoop out and replace with new?

what about levels?

 

[KimPossible]

I started my tank almost 3 yrs ago with CC. I do rigorous water changes siphoning the gunk that gets trapped in my bed. I have been slowly taking 1 cup out at each water change with the intention of replacing it with Carib-sea aragonite sand. To this day I have not had a noticeable nitrAte problem, but then again...the rigorous siphoning done each water change plays a role in that.
I would go slowly with the change out. Your current bed does hold surface bacteria that aids in the de nitrification of "crap"

 

[lcstorc]

I would (and did) remove the bio-balls first. This made a world of difference in my nitrates. Either one you choose to remove, do so slowly. Taking out too much at a time will fuel a cycle.
I would not mix the cc w/the sand again simply because it has made it almost impossible to remove the cc now. I am using a kitchen strainer spoon and removing a spoon at a time. Trust me it is not fun. With that said though once I got the bio-balls out my nitrate problem went away or was at least greatly diminished. LR should be good out of the water for short time periods and it does not require lights though I have one. This has caused lots of coraline and now I can barely even see the rock. lol . I keep trying to turn off the light but then you cannot see inside the stand so my husband keeps turning it back on.
hope this helps. I had both bio-balls and cc (still have cc in some places) so PM me if you want more details on what I did. The key though is to do a bit at a time.

 

[Jorgens]

With my limited experience, and limited life in the tank, a "large" dsb sin't necesary. I have 1/2 of a 55g tank as a refigium with 4-5" for a dsb in that. I have diy "live" rock and all is only 6 weeks old. I have 2-3" of sand in the main tank and my nitrates are at 0. 2 weeks ago i tested after adding some clowns and slightly over feeding my trates were at 40. Now after 2 weeks and no water changes they are at 0. I know some don't like the look of all that in the main tank, so maybe even just doing a deep back corner or so may help. And for sand i used a regular beach sand.

I know ive talked to a coupl old schoolers in the LFS who are totally anti-dsb. but i gave it a shot anyway and all sems good. Now mind you I have a total of 6 weeks experience in this hobby. And this is just my observations with my system. Something is working right......(thank god)

 

[lcstorc]

Nothing good happens quickly in a reef tank. Personally I like the dsb concept but 6 weeks is not nearly long enough for a test.
Sorry