changing sand bed?

[reeferchickdc]

hello, I have a 5 gallon nano that is thriving. I use a live filter that is spilling into the tank. I change the water with water from my 40 gallon reef. The sand I have now is from a friend in florida. It is crawling with life. I just went home and got some Hawaiian green sand and would like to put it in my nano tank. I would like to put the old sand into my big tank which would really boost it. So my question is: What is the best way to swap the sand without disrupting my heathly tank and its residents? aloha.

 

[AIMFish]

I was going to suggest vacuuming it out with a hose but in such a small tank it my be about empty before you get the sand out

 

[reeferchickdc]

What do you think about using a small cup to carfully scoop out one side, then add the sand also slowly. Then do the other side?

 

[AIMFish]

That way would probably help with keeping water from going way down and up again. It's almost one of those, "six of one or a half dozen of another", either way will probably work well for you, you will just need to do what you feel most comfortable with!

 

[reeferchickdc]

well I scooped out about half the sand and replaced it with the hawaiian green. I left about a quarter inch of the white on the bottom. I'm gonna give the tank a week to adjust then do the other side. So we'll see.

 

[mister crabs]

any pics of this green sand? please

 

[reeferchickdc]

if i can figure out how to get the pics posted i would love too. The green sand is beautiful. The green is from oliveen(spelling?) a mineral(?) that burns at really high temps. So when the lava is bursting and bubbling into the water, everything else melts and you are left with green sand. There is black and a little white sand mixed in. I'll try after the weekend work is done to do those pics. I think I'm gonna give the sand more time than a week to adjust. I'm getting some red slime action and I want the life to have more time to settle in the new sand.

 

[jessp]

sometimes the colored sand leeches phosphates into the water, something to keep an eye on

 

[reeferchickdc]

thanks for the heads up. Even with naturally colored sand?

 

[mister crabs]

pics...pics...pics...plz!! lol