My husband and I are new to saltwater tanks. When we bought our current tank we bought it already set up from a guy that my husband works with. He had about an inch of crushed coral as his substrate. From my reading and from this forum I have come to understand that this is not a great substrate. My question is when I change it is it okay to just put sand over what is already in there or would it be better to move all the live rock, take out the old substrate and put in the new. Can I do this with the fish in the tank or should I remove them as well?
converting substrates
- Thread starter kcfehring
- Start date
its a tough call either way.....for sure the sand will completely cloud the tank. You really need to get the sand under water in a trash can, with old tank water and a pump over it for several weeks. That way it will become full of bacteria.
I would remove as much of the crushed coral as possibe ( i domnt like the way it looks...thats my only reason). Then bag the sand up in gallon bags, force the air out and place in the tank. Let it sit on the bottom and undo the zip, with the bag pretty much upside down. Slowly (...very slowly) lift each bag up and the dust storm will collect in the bag as the sand pours out. Did I mention slowly....Then turn bag upright trapping all the dust etc.
repeat till its all done.....
I would take a few days to slowly add the sand.
Paul.
I would remove as much of the crushed coral as possibe ( i domnt like the way it looks...thats my only reason). Then bag the sand up in gallon bags, force the air out and place in the tank. Let it sit on the bottom and undo the zip, with the bag pretty much upside down. Slowly (...very slowly) lift each bag up and the dust storm will collect in the bag as the sand pours out. Did I mention slowly....Then turn bag upright trapping all the dust etc.
repeat till its all done.....
I would take a few days to slowly add the sand.
Paul.
Brent Porterfie
New member
I just did the same thing(covered crushed coral with sand). Wether it is right or wrong i don't know but I left the crushed coral in there and just covered it up. After the sand was soaked for a while I used a funnel with a piece of 1 inch pvc pipe to extend the funnel, that kept dust to a minimal but still clouded the water.
aaparkr
New member
I took out 95% of the crushed coral (maybe 98%) and used a 2 cup measuring cup to add sand . Before I added the sand, I used a bunch of 2" pvc pipe which I had cut about an 2 inches thick to put the rock on (from the back of the tank to about the center). I didn't want sand under the rock.That worked pretty well, just slow and labor intensive. I did part of the sand with a long 1" pipe and that was a little faster.
After a month or two, all of the crushed coral I had not removed was sitting on top of the sand. I skim a little bit of it out from time to time as it looks dirty, but I still haven't gotten it all out.
If you do not remove all of your crushed coral, it will rise to the top of the sand because of its lower specific gravity. Technically the sand is working its way under the coral grain by grain
I did all this with the fish still in the tank. Someone once told me that they tolerate sand storms pretty well and they seemed fine in my case. I never let the visibility get so bad that I couldn't see the back of the tank (18").
Tony
After a month or two, all of the crushed coral I had not removed was sitting on top of the sand. I skim a little bit of it out from time to time as it looks dirty, but I still haven't gotten it all out.
If you do not remove all of your crushed coral, it will rise to the top of the sand because of its lower specific gravity. Technically the sand is working its way under the coral grain by grain
I did all this with the fish still in the tank. Someone once told me that they tolerate sand storms pretty well and they seemed fine in my case. I never let the visibility get so bad that I couldn't see the back of the tank (18").
Tony
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