time for a change

[showtime19]

Hey guys, I'm doing somewhat of an overhaul of my tank. All of the corals and fish are fine, the water params are fine, its just that towards the back in the bottom, the sand doesnt get sifted very much and its starting to look like brown dirt. I got a diamond goby yesterday, and he started making his way in that area and digging through the sand. Well, I dont know exactly what happened, but he died the next day =( So I'm assuming thats what killed him. So I need to take everything out, replace the sand, scrub the deitrus off my rocks, scrub the algae off, and start over.

So I need some advice to see if my method sounds good. I have a 30 gallon oceanic cube, 20x20x20 (I think)

1. syphon out 5 gallons of water into a jug and the other 5 gallons into a shallow bucket where I'm going to move all of the corals and fish. I'm going to run a powerhead and heater in it as well. Make new saltwater to fill in the rest.

2. Take the remaining saltwater in the tank and use it to scrub my live rock.

3. Remove all of my sand, scrape off all the algae. Rinse the new sand well, put it back into the tank.

4. Start putting the rocks back in the tank the way I want it.

5. Pour the old and new water back in the tank. Put the heater back in the tank and wait til the temp is right and check salinity.

6. Put all livestock back into the tank and let protein skimmer run

Sorry about the long thread, I just have alot of things that I do not want to die and I want to make sure I do EVERYTHING right.

Also, if you could put a suggestion as to the best/favorite type of sand....thanks!!!!!!
2.

[leveldrummer]

how old is your tank? another idea would be to get a small powerhead and try to run it upside down on the back of your tank to start pushing some of that crud out. it may take a while, and you definatly dont want to stir it all up really bad. if that doesnt sound good, your methods seem very good. it may take a little longer than your thinking though, so be prepared.

[showtime19]

Thanks for the feedback. I was thinking of using CaribSea Aragamax Oolitic Select Reef Sand or Tahitian Moon Sand...any suggestions or thoughts on these types? How much sand would I need for a 30 gallon tank, not a dsb....maybe 1.5-2 inches deep

[Geoff]

sounds like a plan to me.

as for sand, most prefer the aragonite, but there are some that have had fine success with silica sand. this is just regular sand, nothing special. i would run a magnet through whatever sand you get to make sure there is not any metal filings in it.

G~