Changing of substrate on a established tank

[sp314]

Hi everyone. So today I was cleaning my dt and finally have had enough with my choice of substrate. I choose fine sand thinking I’d get this nice smooth sand bed but that’s all from reality. It looks great for an hour but then you’ll come back to look at the tank and it’s just big piles of sand in random spots. It’s never in the same spot. I’ve slowed my powerheads down, moved them all around, change my rock work I’ve done everything. So basically what I’m getting to is, has anyone ever slowly changed substrate in a way to let the new sand establish before you remove the old sand so the tank stays stable? Basically add 10lbs of new sand in the sump of the display in a container to allow water to flow over the sand to establish, then remove 10lbs of old sand from display and add the new sand from the sump to the display and repeat till all the sand is changed. Just a idea. Wondering what everyone else thinks if this ?

 

[Subsea]

In 53 years uf Reefing, I don’t know what’s best for you until you give more details.

I suggest you start a member tank thread with tank details

 

[brandon429]

It’s never safe to change sand in sections, thats a misnomer.

if you want safe you take the tank apart and change the sand all at once and the new sand is pre rinsed in tap water before it’s installed. Sandbed bacteria are not needed in reef tanks, this is the rule for all reef tanks.

 

[brandon429]

Here’s one of 400 jobs done on the site the right way, with pre rinsed new sand

EMERGENCY - Substrate change

Hi all, I’m really confused and need advice. I currently have crushed coral in my flu all evo 13.5g which due to a month in hospital the sand bed got so badly stained I can’t clean it and it looks gross. It’s a mixed tank with a clown, fire fish and 2 cardinals. I’ve ordered caribsea live pink...

www.reef2reef.com

if you change it in sections, I have multiple examples of that killing people’s fish. Old sand can have bad things in it. It usually works to change it in sections, but not always. What always works is complete swap with pre rinsed cloudless sand.

 

[sp314]

Here’s one of 400 jobs done on the site the right way, with pre rinsed new sand

EMERGENCY - Substrate change

Hi all, I’m really confused and need advice. I currently have crushed coral in my flu all evo 13.5g which due to a month in hospital the sand bed got so badly stained I can’t clean it and it looks gross. It’s a mixed tank with a clown, fire fish and 2 cardinals. I’ve ordered caribsea live pink...

www.reef2reef.com

if you change it in sections, I have multiple examples of that killing people’s fish. Old sand can have bad things in it. It usually works to change it in sections, but not always. What always works is complete swap with pre rinsed cloudless sand.

What things can be in the old sand ? My tank is doing great it’s well established and has been up and running for about 2 years now. How can the sand be bad ? I turn the sand over weekly cause my powerheads move it around and all my fish are healthy. What could be in the old sand ?

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

What things can be in the old sand ? My tank is doing great it’s well established and has been up and running for about 2 years now. How can the sand be bad ? I turn the sand over weekly cause my powerheads move it around and all my fish are healthy. What could be in the old sand ?

 

[sp314]

He looks friendly. I bet he’s just hungry .lol. All seriousness though what could be in there ? The sand is mixed around in the tank so that evil little friend has already been set loose.

 

[brandon429]

Take the risk if you want to. Nobody knows what the kill component is, we just know how to avoid it, it’s avoided by being cloudless in all actions regarding sand. If I had to guess it’s a mixture of bacteria in various states of decay. The method to swap safely is shown plain as day, and any other method has fish kills you can search and find.

 

[Subsea]

It’s never safe to change sand in sections, thats a misnomer.

if you want safe you take the tank apart and change the sand all at once and the new sand is pre rinsed in tap water before it’s installed. Sandbed bacteria are not needed in reef tanks, this is the rule for all reef tanks.

“Rule for all reef tanks”

That a bold statement. Nitrification bacteria are a very very small percentage of the microbes that make up the microbial loop.

 

[mfinn]

I've swapped sand out a couple times. It was always just the portion in the front of the tank, between the glass and the rock structure. What I did was plan on a large water charge at the same time. Have 2 large containers of equal size one with the new water and 1 for the sand and old water. I used a large diameter suction hose. 1" inside diameter. This is because smaller ones always seemed to clog really fast. And because it's such a large diameter you have to move fast, cause it's going to drain alot of water fast. Just syphon the sand up and keep an eye out for curious fish.
To put sand back in I used a clear gravel vac tube ( 2" dia.) and a funnel. By using a tube like this, it deposits the sand on the bottom of the tank and creates less of a cloud in the water column.

 

[jda]

If you are relying on the sand to perform a large biological function for your tank, you do indeed need to replace it slowly and allow the biological filter to establish again before you move on. Not all people need their sand beds to do this, so in these cases you can do more at once. The nuance matters here and there is no one-size-fits all approach and nobody should be acting as such.

People do know what is in sand. It is well studied and documented. Folks worry about hydrogen sulfide, but unless you buried organics, this is not much of a risk. Just turn off the pumps, siphon out a small section to the bottom glass and replace it with the new sand - that is all. Don't stir or mix the rest, or anything.

If you have sandbed critters, use the sand for denitrification, nitrification, etc. then wait a few months before moving on.

If you have too fine of sand, often adding in some mixed grain size sand is enough to keep it from blowing around. You can usually put a little bit at a time on top and it will get mixed up on it's own. How deep is your sand now? Are you Ok with adding another .5 to 1 inch? If so, try and larger grain size mixed in.

As said above, you can pour sand down a 1.5 or 2" PVC pipe to make less of a mess. A funnel is your friend too.. Both very good tips worthy of saying again.

 

[brandon429]

to test any sandbed claim:

have any reef tank post to the sand rinse thread, we apply the same steps we've done for 9 yrs. outcome=the same, for any tank running the rinse and reassembly

rinsing is the activity that aligns all reef tanks for the same outcome after a move, bed swap, tank upgrade etc.

its the only method that works safely for outbound jobs/when dealing with other people's $

transferring clouding isn't ideal, though it self-clears in most cases. outbreaks happen lots of times during unrinsed bed transfers, but we have nine years of outbound work data on file showing no such problems in rinsed beds.

There is no time that a reef tank will be harmed running what we do in the sand rinse thread. it's literally good for all reefs because removing waste isn't harmful for any reef.