2 1/2 years later, its time to replace the bed. Im going to need to do a 100% water change cause im going to clean the back walls of the tank that never get cleaned too. Do I have to cycle the tank when doing a 100% water change and new sand bed??
If water params are good, take 50% of the water and put it in some buckets. With this and your lr you should have a very small cycle if at all. Just a suggestion.
I wouldn't do a 100% water change. This is the method I would use. Siphon off as much water as possible and save it in a large trashcan or similar. Remove all of your rock/livestock and put that in the bin with the water. Clean the tank, add the new sandbed, replace water,livestock, and then top off with new ASW.
Platy is right, that's excellent advice, exactly what I did when I replaced the sandbed in my 135-gallon. I saved as much water as I could, put the LR and other odds/ends in the buckets with the water and threw away the old sand.....well, actually, it's in my garden now (smile).
Good luck!
when doing this make sure you keep the orientation of the LR the same as it was in the tank. the topside facing up. it is also a good idea to drop a PH in there to keep water moving so the water does not go anoxic on you.
i prefer to keep as much water as possible. even doing this you will prolly end up doing at least a 25% water change. 100% water changes are not bad if you have done them before, just a bit riskier for what you are planning on doing.
do not add corals or fish back to the tank untill the temp and salinity have settled out.
make 29 gallons of salt water just incase, drain the tank into buckets and put fish and rock and corals in the buckeats. drian the tank downto about i inch from the sand. bed. Get a wet dry shop vac, and suck out all the water and sand left. While ur there clean the back walls, add new sand(extreamly well rinsed/ cleaned) , put back water and add any nessecary make up water.
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