100% water and sand change good or bad idea?

[Superlightman]

Hello guys,

I'm struggling with high phosphate since months, I think the main cause appart from my fish population is the sand bed and the aquascape that is not optimum for proper water flow.
so my idea was to transfer all corals and fish a few hours in another tank the time to take of and replace all the sand bed and water,change thebrock placement and then put everything again in the tank.
I did this befor some years ago when I transferd all in the new tank. I had no lost but at this time I just had lps and softies, but now I have many sps..so good or bad idea?
In theory it should do nothing as when we get corals from the store, the settings are also not same than mine ,no?

 

[PeterC99]

What are your PO4 levels?

What do you currently do to manage them?

 

[Superlightman]

Actually between 0,15-0,2 when I manage them but without managing they go high. I used or rowa phos or elmin phos rapid from tropic marin (lanthan). I also have a algua reactor from Tunze but he seem to help nothing, I think he is to small. Actually my nitrate are over 50zince two weeks, don't know why as they were all time close to 5-10 in the perfect range. Maybe because I took of some large part of sand that could have filter them

 

[John08007]

Why not gfo?

 

[Simsung]

Yes, you can do it. Use the search option and look up "Rip Cleaning"

The method is pretty straightforward -
prepare as much fresh saltwater as you can, match your tank params (temp, salinity, alk)
set up a temporary holding container for all your livestock and rocks, keep temp stable and add circulation to avoid unnecessary stress (wavemaker is enough)
Drain the tank and take the sand out (siphoning the sand out through a fine fish net works well)
Rinse the hell out of the sand in fresh water. You want the water to be crystal clear. Dont worry about bacteria, it does not matter. When this is done, rinse the sand twice in rodi to remove the freshwater.
Put everything back into the tank, ensuring water parameters are the same
Profit.

This will resolve all your issues for the foreseeable future.


This is how most if not all pico tanks are run - 100% water change and regular sand cleaning.
I already did this once with my previous tank am planning to do it again in the next couple of days as I am upgrading tanks. There were no ill effects, no "cycling" and certainly no deaths.

 

[PeterC99]

Actually between 0,15-0,2 when I manage them but without managing they go high. I used or rowa phos or elmin phos rapid from tropic marin (lanthan). I also have a algua reactor from Tunze but he seem to help nothing, I think he is to small. Actually my nitrate are over 50zince two weeks, don't know why as they were all time close to 5-10 in the perfect range. Maybe because I took of some large part of sand that could have filter them

I found my Tunze MAR Algae reactor to be incredibly effective. Took my high PO4 & NO3 to almost zero. Are you using chaeto in your reator?

 

[outhouse]

I would do the 100% water changes, but replacing sand bed at the same time could cause a small cycle. I did that 13 years ago and had a cycle for 3 days despite having a sump and plumbing well seasoned. Just use some caution. I kept livestock and coral in a kiddy swimming pool until it was ready.

 

[iMi]

I agree with @outhouse. Water is not a problem. Sand could cause a small cycle. Bacteria in a bottle could help if you decide to replace it.

 

[Superlightman]

I found my Tunze MAR Algae reactor to be incredibly effective. Took my high PO4 & NO3 to almost zero. Are you using chaeto in your reator?

for me it does nothing , yes chaeto

 

[PeterC99]

for me it does nothing , yes chaeto

Have you tried adjusting flow levels and lighting times?

 

[Superlightman]

I agree with @outhouse. Water is not a problem. Sand could cause a small cycle. Bacteria in a bottle could help if you decide to replace it.

i think I will take live sand and do the water change with the tropic marin salt with bacteria , i hope i will have no trouble

 

[Jacob Fawley]

If you plan on taking the sand out, you may as well not replace it at all. Ultimately, having substrate in a saltwater aquarium means consistently gravel vacuuming - a pain. Although, this will not allow you to keep certain species of fish/inverts that require a substrate. I also switched to bare-bottom, which definitely destabilized my tank for awhile. Went through several phases of algae until the chaeto in my refugium started taking off.
The point is that you are probably going to destabilize the aquarium some due to taking the sand out, so why put it back to potentially run into the same issues again? Up to you, just my thoughts.

 

[Superlightman]

I put new sand inside ! What a big work!!
I agree with you probably it would have been less stress to go bare bottom, but I don't like too much the aesthetic of bare bottom, I really prefer the sand in a tank.I also have some fish that need it. But this time I just put a bit for aesthetic, not a lot . I think the most trouble is when you have a sand bed between a deep sand be and a small one because he not filters same a deep bed and is bot inactive same a small one, so just good for troubles.

 

[Bpb]