Changing out sand

[BlazinNano]

I know a lot of people are going to think I am stupid for thinking this. But I am thinking about changing out my sand. I have a very thin sand bed i my 29 gallon. I think it might be about 2" in the front and behind the back of the rocks there are spots with no sand at all. The sand is a little over a year old. The sand is nasty and dirty. I mean I have plenty of critters in it to keep it from messing up the tank, it just looks bad. I really want to get black sand. I just think it looks cooler and would make colors pop. Is it bad to just change the sand out? Is it going to be a long process? Should I do it now or wait the 6 months till I move then since I will have the tank torn down do it then? I know a lot of questions.

 

[addicted4life]

Suck the sand out when you do water changes. Once it's all gone, add the new black sand. To do that with a full tank try using a small tupperware, fill it with sand, then slowly submerge, holding near the surface until full. Then lower to the bottom of tank. Very little spillage that way.

 

[jackTheReefer]

your sand provides most of your biological filtration and nitrate reduction. replacing the sand entirely in one shot will probably cause you to undergo another nitrogen cycle. in other words, you will throw your tank out of equilibrium. also, look for opinions from people who use black sand. i've read a while back that some people did not like the way it looked after using it. also, i may be wrong but black sand is not calcium carbonate but some sort of volcanic sand. therefore, it will not help buffer your tank. and make sure it is safe for sand sifting gobies if you have any.

 

[BlazinNano]

Could I add "dead" sand just to make it a little deeper and maybe clean it up some?

 

[BlazinNano]

Because I would not want to loose my hectors goby.

 

[jackTheReefer]

yes, you can add dead sand, but do so slowly as your tank is in a state of equilibrium. you need time to reach a new biochemical equilibrium with a new sand depth. i didn't mean to scare you with the black sand. a lot of people like it also. i think caribsea makes black sand that is goby safe. when you say your sand is dirty, what exactly do you mean? is it dirty in terms of you have some sort of algae growing on it? or is it dirty as in if you run your fingers through the sand, stuff comes out? if it's the latter, i think that's normal. the sand is a big biological filter and you expect it to be dirty and full of millions of bacteria, worms, debris, waste, and so on. the important thing is that you don't get ammonia and nitrite spikes and your nitrates are 20ppm or below. i don't know the size of the sand grains you have in your tank currently, but consider adding oolite sand. this sand tends to blow away if you point a power head at it but the huge surface area it provides for bacteria will boost your biological filtration significantly as well as nitrate reduction. oh, if you want to clean it a little, thats fine also.

 

[BlazinNano]

By dirty I mean it just looks dirty. There is more crushed coral in it then sand or at least a lot of the crushed coral has come to the surface and just over the past year it is just turning dark. I want a little deeper of a sand bed so Bumble Bee (my hectors goby) has more to eat. He is the only goby in there but I want him fat and happy. I used a ruler on the outside of the tank and yeah it is only like 1.5" deep. I want to use a sand that is smaller grain all of minne is bigger, kinda want it to look like fresh fallen snow, at first. I know it will get dirty eventually. I mean my fiances tank has no crush coral and smaller grais. It is 8 month old and looks like it just came out of the bag.

 

[jackTheReefer]

crush coral makes a very poor substrate. it traps food, debris, and fish waste. it has low surface area to grow bacteria that will act as your filter. many people, including me when i used it, had low pH problems associated with it. since this is your substrate, definitely consider replacing it entirely. don't bother cleaning it as it does look dirty almost all the time, no matter how often you clean it. again, replace the sand slowly to give the new sand time to act as your new filter. here is a link to caribsea sand types:

CaribSea Arag-Alive | Special Grade Reef Sand | Indo Pacific Black | Fiji Pink | Bahamas Oolite | West Caribbean Reef | Florida Crushed Coral | Bimini Pink

just pick one that is sifter and soft belly safe