Ya, but I use a long hose to the tub, and 50 pounds of sand might clog the drain :P
Ideally, I'd like to remove sand with siphon, return water to the tank, repeat, until all the sand is gone. Ideally... :)

You might just have to suck it up and revert back to 5g at a time with a short hose and bucket next to the tank =) The stuff in the sand is likely going to be extremely fine (and maybe nutrient rich or contain gasses I dunno). I'd want sand plus water/particulates/gas instantly out in one fell swoop.

Well, ya, that's the correct answer, just not an answer I want to entertain just yet -lol

+1, sorry Brad but yeah just suck it up (The sand that is, I don't know why you think I would mean anything else by that.)

Sand into the bucket or a rubbermaid until it's full, then refill with clean water, repeat the next day. Disturbing the sand bed is a dangerous risky endeavour. Get it out as cleanly as you can.

you did see who posted the comment, right?? :)

I guess it's the only real way. I'm not concerned with gases, the sand is fairly shallow and well turned over by the wrasses (the problem to begin with)

Well, originally I had typed "suck it up, princess" but decided against it .. but I kept the disclaimer. Because "suck it up" sometimes means, you know, suck it up, and not, suck it up. You know. So in this case, suck up the sand, suck it up with the bucket, I know it sucks, but you can do it.

Tony, that whole idea kinda, you know, sucks.....

I am going to attempt to change my sand bed as well. My sand bed is fairly shallow and quite fine. I have two questions, the first being what did you replace your sand bed with, how course was the new sand that you ended up using. The second question is did you use a siphon hose or a pump to remove the existing sand bed.

Thank you
Rick

I've changed mine a few times. Went from sugar sand to crushed coral then to select grade. When I changed it out I shut off all my pumps & powerheads and just scooped it out. A vac might have worked better for the sugar sand.

depending on the sand it can jam up a pump really well then you have to shut it off which allows some back into the tank. results in a mess.

simply siphon the sand out with a decent-sized hose. your water will remain exactly as it looked before and it will remove the sand entirely.

when adding new sand back in i swish small amounts in a bowl to remove floaties then strain it a net-full at a time under running water to remove fines. it goes back into the tank almost crystal clear.