Changing crushed coral for sand

[Scottkutanzi]

Hi everyone I was wondering if anyone had any tips or tricks to change out crushed coral for sand. I've got a 90gal cube tank that has about an inch of sand on the bottom and about an inch and half of crushed coral on top. The reason I want to change the crushed coral is that it's stained green and so not liking the look. I've got fish and coral that I don't want to die. So any help would be appreciated. Thanks. ImageUploadedByTapatalk1446744242.915223.jpg


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[GoFish]

If I was you I would siphon it out when doing a water change... If the crushed coral is too big for your siphon hose than you could use a larger diameter one (pick out the largest pieces by hand). If there isn't enough suction to extract the larger pieces than I would try to have the draining end of the hose as low as possible. If you're in a 2 level house then use a longer hose and drain to the lower floor. The lower the hose, the more suction you'll get, might take 2 people, one on each end of the hose.
You're probably gonna find a lot of detritus hidden in there so you'd probably have to finesse with the end of the hose to pick the crushed coral up while leaving the sand behind. I usually pinch the hose between my thumb and forefinger to control the amount of suction, I use a clear vinyl hose. If it stirs up a lot of detritus hidden in there and you can't avoid clouding the water then I'd consider doing this over the course of a few or more water changes doing sections. Your sand is probably gonna be pretty gross. Maybe consider taking the sand out at the same time and go bare bottom? If you don't like the looks then at least you have the sand out so you can rinse it and put it back in?
Or maybe someone else has a better idea? Best of luck

[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

[Myka]

Originally Posted by gregzz4

this is hydrogen sulfide (did I get that right?)

Yes you got it right.

[gregzz4]

Originally Posted by Myka

Yes you got it right.

Thank you

[Proteus]

If you do smell rotten eggs(h2s) peroxide will oxidize the h2s.

[Scottkutanzi]

Thanks everyone for the helpful tips and tricks on changing the crushed coral to sand. ImageUploadedByTapatalk1447616236.492128.jpg


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