Sand help

[hatchet]

My sand bed is over Nasty can I take out the old sand and Replace it with new sand or will it. Recycle the tank?

 

[hatchet]

Anyone

 

[Dmorty217]

Take the sand out slowly and replace it a little at a time. If you do it all at once you might cause your tank to crash

 

[Mr. Bill]

Agreed.

I'd also suggest vacuuming it out as you're removing water for a WC so that the nasties that are trapped will get sucked out as well, rather than stirred and released into the water.

 

[hatchet]

I tried vacuuming it out but it don't do any good the sand is over 2 years old and the guy I got it from never cleaned it

 

[SGT_York]

Check for black (hydrogen sulfide) parts in the sand bed. Rotten Egg smell if you find that go slow with frequent water changes.

 

[ChipE]

Create a syphon dumping into a filter sock in sump. Once the sock is full, dump the sand and continue. You wont need to turn off the water since the water goes from the dt to the sump.
I would do it until the tank looks cloudy, then stop for a while. Be prepared to do water changes.

 

[Caronte]

+1 on take the sand slowly as nitrites can be released to the water column and considered goes BB as my tanks are

 

[power boat jim]

Use a length of garden hose and start to syphon the sand out into a 5 gallon bucket. Do as much as you would to perform a water change, maybe 2 buckets full. Dont put the water back into the tank. Get rid of the sand and water. Do this over the course of a few days or a couple weeks or whatever you like until all the old sand is gone. You can replace the sand with new as you go.

Doing it this way you are not letting any of the junk in the old sandbed to be released into the tank, you are pulling it directly into the bucket. . This procedure is part of my general maintenance program. I have syphoned out and replaced the entire sand bed in my tank at once several times. How much sand bed you take out at once depends on how much water you want to change at one time.

 

[tippmannsniper]

Doing it this way you are not letting any of the junk in the old sandbed to be released into the tank, you are pulling it directly into the bucket.

+1. I do the same, rarely have any spikes as long as the disturbed media is removed and not allowed to be suspended in the water column

 

[pool guy]

thanks for the good info !!!! Learn somthing new on every thread.....