Replace sand bed substrate

[Immortal]

So I made the mistake of starting my tank with a fine argonite. My clowns think they are sand sifting goby’s and kick it up everywhere! The sand covers all my rock and corals every morning. I’m tired of having to clear my corals and rock everyday. My tank is about a year old. Is it safe to take out the established sand and replace it with Caribsea special grade “alive” sand?

 

[Lavey29]

What size tank?

 

[JTP424]

If you have some normal rock/biomedia you should be fine to swap. I would do a little at a time though so nutrients don't spike.

 

[Biokabe]

Yes, but exercise caution and do the replacement over the course of weeks and/or months.

Sand traps a lot of detritus, and if it's sufficiently deep it can grow bacteria that produce hydrogen sulfide as a waste byproduct. In sufficient quantities, it can absolutely kill your tank. So we mitigate that by only removing a little sand at once, to limit the amount of sulfide that we can potentially release.

Each day, take out a cup or two of sand. What you do with it after you pull it out is up to you. Rinse your new sand thoroughly. Once you've removed enough of the old sand so that you can clearly tell the difference between new and old, put in some of the old sand, enough to replace what you took out. Rinse and repeat until most of the old sand is out.

I've done this myself. It is time-consuming and kind of irritating, but I've also done it quickly before. And that's how I know all about hydrogen sulfide.

 

[Lavey29]

I agree with the above posts.

 

[BryanM]

100% okay to change, the *KEY* is patience and slow.

I'd just start by taking out 10% a day, or every other day. You do not want to go overboard and cause any sort of tank crash due to stirring up bad bacteria in the old sand.

Slow and steady wins the race here.

 

[Immortal]

What size tank?

75 gallon

 

[Lavey29]

75 gallon

As others mentioned, just do a little section at a time over a few months then. I would combine it with a water change just in case.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

So I made the mistake of starting my tank with a fine argonite. My clowns think they are sand sifting goby’s and kick it up everywhere! The sand covers all my rock and corals every morning. I’m tired of having to clear my corals and rock everyday. My tank is about a year old. Is it safe to take out the established sand and replace it with Caribsea special grade “alive” sand?

I had that sand in my 20g tank and was satisfied with that sand! It never did blow around in my tank, but my goby sure loved making burrows in it!

 

[MC Blowfish]

I added too much substrate to my aquarium. I did what others have suggested and slowly take out 1-2 cups about once a week. I'm still in the process of reducing the substrate.

Just take it slow and you should be fine. Also if you have any jumpers, have a spotter. And once you're done, do a quick look around to make sure that no one escaped.

 

[Immortal]

Would I be able to just add the new sand over the old sand?

 

[vlangel]

Would I be able to just add the new sand over the old sand?

I thought that at first but with your clowns they will stir it up below the coarse sand and the fine sand will still be on your coral and rock.

 

[BryanM]

You could add it on top, but you then have to like deep sand beds, and those come with their own set of requirements.