Help please..Changing Sand bed

[goof89]

Hey guys first of all thanks for looking.

So I want to change the live sand I have in my tank right now for a different type of live sand. The sand in my tank right now is a mixture of sand and lil black pebbles and I want to switch to fine, all bone/white-ish sand bed.

Do I need to cycle my tank all over again? Or add new sand and add water?

Thanks for the help in advance.

[rudy]

Is this a running and stocked tank?

[goof89]

Yes has been up and running for a year and a half.
fish-snowflake eel, pair of clowns, yellow tang
coral-softies, leathers, frogspawn, mushrooms, zoas. No sps

[Bogg]

I would do a little at a time

[Sancho]

It may go through a mini cycle. The last time I did this I transfered all my water and live stock to a large Rubbermaid container and put a power head in the container. I put my live rock in a separate Rubbermaid with fresh salt water. I used my shop vac to get all the sand out. I than rinsed my live rock in DI water. My tank was very established I feared that there may be detritus built up in my rock and did not want to add that back to my tank. I Put the tank back together using most of the water I took out of the tank. Aside from all the critters that probably lived in the sand I had no losses. Although the tank did go through a small cycle which was easily managed with water changes. It was like setting up a new tank was cloudy all night but cleared in the morning and everything lived. There may be other ways to do this but this worked for me. There are ways to lessen the cloudiness I have heard others using plastic sheeting, trash bags, ect on top of the layer of new sand while adding the water.

[Kris]

I've never removed a sand bed, but I would expect at least a mini-cycle as you export some portion of your biological filter along with the old sand. I have not used any of the modern "bacteria in a bottle" solutions that are supposed to kick start the biological filter, but from what I have read it would seem like a good way to minimize any cycle you might get during this process. Maybe someone else who has had experience with the various bio-filter products that might chime in for support or to reject this hypothesis? I am also interested in the latter topic as I am thinking about starting a new tank using "dead" sand & dead-rock. (Thanks)

[FDdragon]

It may go through a mini cycle. The last time I did this I transfered all my water and live stock to a large Rubbermaid container and put a power head in the container. I put my live rock in a separate Rubbermaid with fresh salt water. I used my shop vac to get all the sand out. I than rinsed my live rock in DI water. My tank was very established I feared that there may be detritus built up in my rock and did not want to add that back to my tank. I Put the tank back together using most of the water I took out of the tank. Aside from all the critters that probably lived in the sand I had no losses. Although the tank did go through a small cycle which was easily managed with water changes. It was like setting up a new tank was cloudy all night but cleared in the morning and everything lived. There may be other ways to do this but this worked for me. There are ways to lessen the cloudiness I have heard others using plastic sheeting, trash bags, ect on top of the layer of new sand while adding the water.

I did the exact same thing and had same results.

If you are changing sand i would use some if the established sand you have now and mix it
with the new. Its established sand so use it to help your new sandbed.

[goof89]

I did the exact same thing and had same results.

If you are changing sand i would use some if the established sand you have now and mix it
with the new. Its established sand so use it to help your new sandbed.

I was thinking of doing this change the same way you did, get two different containers one to rinse off my live rock and other to hold livestock. I am expecting a mini cycle like you guys mentioned but was concerned about this part, I know with a few water changes after will take care of any bad bacteria or trace that will harm my livestock.
So after I empty my tank, add the new live sand, add 75% new saltwater, wait for it to clear up, my fish and livestock should be good/safe to go into tank all in same the day? I will be doing this very early in the morning so it can clear up soon.

[FDdragon]

it make take a while for the temp to get to where it needs to be but i dont see any issue adding the livestock the same day if everything is set. personally, i would use about 50% of the old water if the parameters are good. (just picture this as a water change. so taking out too much at one time might be bad for the fishies)

also, might take a while for the water to clear up. mine took overnight to clear up. recommendation: add rock then the sand. this will ensure your rockwork does not move if you ever get livestock that moves your sand around. (i had to redo a lot of my rockwork because my engineer goby dug around ALOT)

if anybody else has some input please chime in.

[acbaldwin]

I've done it by siphoning all my old sand out and carefully adding the new sand (use a cup or bowl to add it gently without mixing it with the water too much). You'll get a mini cycle, and in my experience the microfauna basically rebooted in a completely difference balance.

I only changed what water was replaced by siphoning out the sand (maybe 30-40%) and you may follow up with a 20% water change or two in a few days' time.

I don't have SPS or very sensitive fish so results may vary

[goof89]

So I finally changed my sand bed about a week ago and everything turn out good except for lil Copper (my Copperband) not making the switch- due to a rookie mistake. I ran out of containers and put him in the same bucket along with my yellow tang and the tang started picking on him, I think he stressed him out too much. I not only change my sand bed but also changed my old "stand" lol -dresser, and upgrated my lighting system, switched from T5's to LEDs (Thanks MustangBill). I kept about 25% of my old water and added 75% clean water. I bought 20 pounds of dried sand which I placed first on the bottom of the tank and 40 pound of live sand above that. After adding the sand, I then placed the rock in the tank and carefully added the 25% water from my old tank then added the 75% clean water. I placed the fish shorty after adding all the water into the tank and waited for everything to settle and clear up. An hour later the tank was clear, my livestock looked good and fish were swimming and acting normal. It has been a week since I have changed my sand bed and upgraded some equipment and everything looks great. I will post an updated picture in the morning. Thanks guys for all your help, hope this helps others.

[acbaldwin]

Looking good! Cool scape. Sorry to hear about your copper, good luck with the rest of them

[goof89]

Looking good! Cool scape. Sorry to hear about your copper, good luck with the rest of them

Thanks bro. Next project is adding a refugium sump. Good stuff giving out them macro packs, maybe ill be one of the lucky ones next time

[jkennedy1007]

love it
sweet scape

[CRONZ]

i just moved and when i resetup i ended up using all new sand... i didnt even have a mini cycle.