Question about changing out a sand bed

[FishRN]

So I made the mistake of using oolite sand in my new waterbox build and while I love the look of it but it blows around constantly. I used it before in larger tanks but in a 25 gallon it snow storms with just the stock pump on, don’t even try to run the nero 3 on 40%. Plus any time my jawfish does his thing it just whites out. I did rinse it prior to putting it in but apparently not enough... so if I go the route of replacing it with dry special grade will I have to redo the cycle. The tank has been cycled for about 4 months so it isn’t an old sand bed filled with detritus.

 

[prdubois]

No, just leave some of the sand to seed the new.

 

[Brady4000]

This is what I did... and it worked out great.

Biocube Update

Changed out the substrate from gravel to sand!! No coral or livestock losses yay!

90% water change
Added Dr. Tim to help
Used live sand “special grade”

How I did it.

1. Filled up a 15g tub with saltwater a heater and a bubbler.
2. Pulled all rock and livestock and put it in tub.
3. Trashed all the water in the tank. with the exception of 5g.
4. Pulled the gravel and put it in a rubber tub, this was to find the hermit crabs.
5. Used a Shop-Vac to get the rest, and scrubbed the bottom of the tank for any debris.
6. Added liverock back to empty tank.
7. Added sand around live rock.
8. Filled tank 1/2 way with the 15g water in the tub. When the tub got low I added the livestock and crabs.
9. Added the 5g of old water
10. Topped it off with fresh saltwater
11. Added Dr. Tim’s 30g
12. Pulled filter and turned off skimmer for 24hrs

 

[Auquanut]

No, just leave some of the sand to seed the new.

^^That's what I would do.^^ I'd do it during a water change. you shouldn't need to keep much of the old sand.

 

[FishRN]

Sounds easy enough thanks!

 

[Brady4000]

I removed all of it.. didn’t see a negative affect. Wouldn’t the bacteria in the live rock reseed?

 

[NashobaTek]

It should