Changing Substrate

[Skywalker71]

I currently have crushed coral in my tank and have been wanting to change it to live sand, but I'm afraid of the effects it could have on my water parameters. I am curious if it is even possible to do this? Any input would help (by the way, just some tank backgroud-it is a 40g and has been running a little over 2 years). Thanks in advance.

 

[MattG]

What i would do is siphon the crushed coral really well maybe 3 times over the course of the week. Then after you get it really clean just pull it out and replace it with the sand. I'm sure you will still end up with a small mess but it shouldn't be that bad.

The bigger concern to me would be if you have large corals that are growing across rocks, between rocks, etc. Disrupting them can sometimes really tick them off.

 

[mg426]

I did the same thing a fews years back. Just do about 25 % per week and all should be well.

 

[Skywalker71]

So when doing 25% a week, is that taking out 25% and adding 25% of sand? When doing it this way will the sand that you added stay in the spot where you put it, or will it end up mixing in with the remaining crushed coral? My main concern is there being an ammonia spike or ph drop or rise???