Sand bed change

[oceanreefer124]

What is the easiest way to change out the sand bed. I was placing a hammer coral in the bed last night and stuck my finger in the sand and it was rock solid. I have a TON of coral and probably 100lbs of live rock in the tank. Any help?

 

[cdub]

well first off you don't want to replace it all at once, you would lose some biological filtration and could cause an unbalance in your tank. the way i did it was to qt my sand, then swapped out 20% every week for a month.

 

[blind1993]

i am syphoning my sand out a little at a time that can work also. but it will take 3 months at least. i syphon it out with a water change thought.

 

[dakota9]

you could cycle the sand in stockings, pantyhose or thigh highs (whatever your taste!) inside your tank, or in a QT. Place 20 percent of the wrapped sand in your tank and remove about the same amount eachtime over the coarse of a few months. When all the sand it replaced, then open the wrappings of the new sand and distribute evenly.

That's basically the answer I got when I posed the ? to WWM......

Good luck!

 

[tsciarini]

if its solid... it isnt doing anything as far as filtration.

I'd say get in there and break up what you can and just reuse the same sand.
While youre at it... check your Ca/Alk/Mg levels. Something is off.

 

[wbholwell]

^^^ That's what I was thinking. Possibly Ca precipitating, due to low Alk/Mg levels?

 

[george]

Out of curiosity, how hard did you try to poke the sand bed? Anyone that's taken a walk/jog on the beach can attest to how hard sand can pack.

There is also a tendency for a top layer (1/2" or so) to encrust if you don't have any shallow-stirring animals such as nassarius snails or a goby. It's important to have stirrers that will move the top layer, but not something like a sand starfish that can easily sterilize quite a large area of sand bed.

 

[twd4]

Are you using a calcium reactor? If so you wanna make sure your ph is in range in your display. Big PH swings can cause this as well as dosing Kalk incorrectly. If you are dosing Kalk make sure you are not adding any cloudy kalk to your tank. it should be clear as water.

Do not reuse the sand IMO. And i agree if its solid then its doing no filtration. I have removed sand beds from many systems in 1 day and they have all pulled through fine. Place your reef in a rubber maid remove the sand, If you want to go barebottom now is the time =) otherwise rinse your new sand thoroughly and put it in the tank and more your reef back in. Keep watch on your water quality and do water changes as needed...

 

[twd4]

By the way i do agree that small slow changes are best in reef aquariums. But on the other hand if something is without a doubt wrong or causing problems it is often best to remedy the issue asap.

 

[george]

tsciarini;90623 wrote: if its solid... it isnt doing anything as far as filtration.

I agree with this if it's actually solid. A hardened sand bed may not be solid in the same way that live rock is hard, but not solid.

Either way, it seems like you need something stirring your top layer of sand.