Switching to Sand

luvmylo · 05-25-2007, 10:05 AM

I plan on switching to sand today in my 55 gallon tank and was wondering what is the best way to go about adding sand. Is there a way to keep the cloudiness down to a minimal and also is this going to hurt my fish or coral??

Little Luey · 05-25-2007, 10:40 AM

Are you using dry sand or live sand?

if it is the dry stuff you can rinse it in a bucket, if it is the live sand DO NOT RINSE. Use a power filter right after you pour it in.

WilyGuy · 05-25-2007, 10:48 AM

Just curious, switching from what?

I would power filter either way (dry or live), but rinsing the dry will help. It is going to cloud up, but should settle down in a couple of hours.

Quote:

Originally Posted by luvmylo

I plan on switching to sand today in my 55 gallon tank and was wondering what is the best way to go about adding sand. Is there a way to keep the cloudiness down to a minimal and also is this going to hurt my fish or coral??

luvmylo · 05-25-2007, 10:56 AM

well I'm going to drain the whole tank to do it. how about when I refill

luvmylo · 05-25-2007, 10:57 AM

oh crushed coral

Little Luey · 05-25-2007, 11:14 AM

Probably just drain half then take the CC out, let all the crap settle and then suck it out. Have some new water ready just in case you need it. Then also maybe do a water change a couple of day after so you can suck some dust out.

Hop · 05-25-2007, 11:18 AM

I wind up sucking out a bunch of my SSB during regular maint... To put clean sand back in, I use a 2" piece of PVC, about 30" long. I pour the sand down the pipe and put it for the most part where it needs to go. It keeps the sandstorm to a minimum. Oh... But the sand needs to be wet.

Fly Guy · 05-25-2007, 11:24 AM

You can salvage as much water as you want up until the point that you disturb the CC bed. Toss the rest at this point. You can have all of your corals and or fish in this water you are intending on salvaging. Just put a powerhead in a big container that can hold it all to keep it circulated. An airstone wont hurt either depending on how long it will take to get this done and rock reaquascaped and tank ready to put inhabitants back in.

Its going to be cloudy for a couple of days whether you rinse it or not. Run a filter sock over your sump drain and change it every couple of hours to speed up the clearing process. If you dont have any big filter socks.......drive over to my place and ill give you a couple.

Like hop said.....wet sand and a pvc pipe is the way to go.

luvmylo · 05-25-2007, 11:50 AM

fly I'll pick up another sock at johns when I go get the sand, I'll also throw my emporer 400 on to kinda filter the nonsense out. Did you see my make shift sump??