Sand bed replacement

[fishkeeprian]

Hello,

I would like to replace my sand bed in my fluval 46L tank. I currently have crushed coral and I would like to replace it with CaribSea Dry Aragonite Special Grade Reef Sand.

My tank has been up and running for 9 weeks, I don't have any fish only clean up crew.

I have around 5kg of live rock how do I go about doing the change i.e. keeping the rock stable and cleaning crew, can i put the in a bucket until I have changed thes sand?

Would there be a lot of bacteria in my current substrate, would i be undoing the work my tank has already achieved?

Thanks

 

[username in use]

Putting the rock and cleanup crew in a bucket or rubbermaid tub may very well be the easiest solution for you.

Then you can just net out all the crushed coral. Rinse the dry sand really, really well. Then you can use a 2' length of PVC to pour the sand down to get it to the bottom without creating a huge cloudy mess. Once that is all done I would plan on doing a major (50%) water change and add the rock back in. Be prepared to do another large, or multiple small water changes over the next week or two as things settle down.

 

[Shaummy]

My general process is to not put my rock on the sandbed, but add it back in first and have it set on the tank bottom. This keeps it stable should the sand shift around.

Then as Username says, rinse the dry sand and add it to the tank.

 

[fishkeeprian]

can I just syphon the tank water out but it in a bucket along with the rock and cleanup crew. Then add the rock the n the new sand then add the tank water back in then just top up with fresh salt water, leave for a couple of days for everything to settle down then check the parameters and do water changes as necessary?

 

[username in use]

Yes, I would test the next day though, not wait a couple days.