Re-aquascape my establish tank

I'm planning on reaquascape my tank and turn my tank to barebotttom.What should I do to prepare this move? Is this going to affect the water chemistry ?
 
Ive never done bare bottom but id assume removing all the sand at once might put your tank thru a mini re cycle.
 
Removing the sand all at once could definitely cause issues. I'll let others smarter than myself speak on this, but I could see big problems with removing all the sand at once.
 
Siphon your sand out with water changes over a period of time. Just keep in mind that with a true BB you will have a whole new set of issues to deal with, and things can go wrong more quickly than with the sand which provides a sort of emergency buffer.
 
My tank is dealing with detritus build up on sand and I've try add more power heads but the sand just blown everywhere and the detritus still there. So I don't know what to do to fix this problem. I think that if I go bb then the problem would be better.Any opinions?
 
IMO you're looking at making a permanent change for a short term problem. I have diatoms from time to time, and it just lets me know that my nutrients need to be put in check. There's nothing wrong with a BB, but you could save yourself the trouble of taking the sand out by reducing your nutrient levels. I was chasing phosphates for a long time and decided to rescape my tank. I took out about 60-70% of my rock and acid washed all of the phosphates out before I rearranged. This is a good way remove residual phosphates, which might be contributing to your diatom issue.
 
I agree with Chad. Awhile back I went BB on my 40B. I however did it all at once and I wish I had done it over several water changes.
 
I think you misread my problem. My tank is algae free and I have detritus piles on my sand bed so I don't know what to do to fix this problem? I've try adding more powerheads but it doesn't help, the sand just blown everywhere but the detritus is still there.
 
I think you misread my problem. My tank is algae free and I have detritus piles on my sand bed so I don't know what to do to fix this problem? I've try adding more powerheads but it doesn't help, the sand just blown everywhere but the detritus is still there.

Gotcha,

An increase in flow to those areas or removing sand and adding a few downward facing power heads is the easiest thing to do. I thought about it for awhile but ended up readjusting my rockscape and adjusting my flow to target dead zones. Sand will get blown around from time to time, but at least it's always white :) My statement before regarding BBs being their own type of monster still goes.
 
This is all you need. I guarantee it. I've never siphoned my sand bed or had to stir it up. I've never seen any ditritus remain on my sand bed. Occasionally he'll do some excavating, "normally" he puts the sand back in its place. Personally a reef tank just looks weird without sand. That's just my opinion.

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I had one of these in my old 40B which had an eggcrate top, every once in awhile you'd hear it hit the eggcrate.
 
this is all you need. I guarantee it. I've never siphoned my sand bed or had to stir it up. I've never seen any ditritus remain on my sand bed. Occasionally he'll do some excavating, "normally" he puts the sand back in its place. Personally a reef tank just looks weird without sand. That's just my opinion.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/aqyzanjqacu" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
+++++1
 
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