Going from DSB to BB tank in large tank?

[caliking]

My tank has become sps dominated and would like to know if it's too late to remove the sand bed and go bare bottom. I have been having alot of dead spots and when I turn up the flow I get a sand storm and have caused some damage to monti caps when the sand settles.

Is it too late to go bare bottom? What's the worst that can happen?

 

[dave.m]

Depends on how deep the existing sand bed is and how old it is. If there are a lot of really blue/black areas deep in the sand, disturbing it could release hydrogen sulfide (H2S) into the tank, killing everything. You could remove the sand in tiny increments over a long period of time to give the sand a chance to rebalance between removals.

- OR -

You could just get some heavier gravel/rubble for those few areas that kick up sand under the higher flow regimen to keep the erosion limited.

Dave.M

 

[wakeboardgeek]

Go slow.

My tank crashed when I took all the sand out of mine (lost 90% of my SPS). If I had to do it again, i'd siphon out sand during water changes section by section over a long period of time.

 

[Sully1882]

Go slow.

My tank crashed when I took all the sand out of mine (lost 90% of my SPS). If I had to do it again, i'd siphon out sand during water changes section by section over a long period of time.

i agree, much better way to do it slowly

 

[hypnoj]

yup.. name of the game is slow, slow, slow