Has anyone ever replaced their TBS sand?

[Fountainhead]

I started my tank a little over two years ago with the TBS 100 gallon package. The rocks are still very nice, but I admit that I've always hated the sand. Too dark, too much rubble, too coarse. Yeah, I suppopse it looks natural, but every tank of the month I see has nice clean white sand that really shows off the rest of the contents.

So has anyone ever successfully swapped out TBS sand for new sand without breaking down the whole tank? Was it successful, and/or worth the trouble? How did you accomplish it?

Thanks for any feedback.

 

[Jocko]

I supplemented mine at one point with some white sand. That was when I learned the "don't add more sand to an existing sandbed rule."

I have not swapped out, but I'd imagine you couldn't totally do it without breaking down the tank at some point. I think the rule of thumb is to start removing it slowly over time. If you swapped the whole sandbed at once, you'd seriously upset the bacteria population of your tank!

And try not to think of all the biodiversity you'll be getting rid of when you remove the TBS substrate.

 

[Fountainhead]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7936834#post7936834 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Jocko
I supplemented mine at one point with some white sand. That was when I learned the "don't add more sand to an existing sandbed rule."

LOL. What happened?

I suppose it's a dumb idea to consider changing it, but I really dislike the sand as it is now.