Tank upgrade, questions and progress

[Reef Breeders Verified Sponsor]

I have recently decided to upgrade to a 75 gallon. I have already secured a tank and the means to buy it, and the upgrade will be coming in a week or so, but first I have some questions. I always had my eye on black substrate, and I currently have all white sand. If I was to buy new live sand (the one that comes in the plastic bag and says instant cycling) in this new color to completely replace my old substrate, would my cycle start all over? That is my top concern, as I have quite a few expensive and sentimentaly valuable livestock that I would prefer to keep. And I plan on switching to mh pendents from t5s, what is the best way to acclimate my corals and anemones to this new light?

 

[butts182]

i recently went from a 30g to a 40 breeder and i replaced the sand with all new caribsea fiji pink live sand, i reused all of the same rock and corals, and my tank crashed!! i lost 95% of my sps...don't use all new sand. the black sand is high in iron, but i'm not sure if this matters...you can tell because the sand will attract to a magnet if you use those to clean your glass...i also went from MH to T5 and i have mixed emotions, but my tank is coming back from the crash so it's too early for me to give a final opinion on the T5s...you can acclimate a few ways...you can start at a short photoperiod and increase it every week, or you can use screen mesh to cover the tank 4 times and remove one every few days...or raise the lights and lower them over time.

 

[Troylee]

The word live is a sales gimmick!!! There is nothing live about it lol... If you use your existing rock you should not have any problems by using new substrate... I Would also use as much water as you can from the existing display...another thing is black gets ugly real quick it will show all the detritus and fish expell etc... Something to think about anyways...

 

[Reef Breeders Verified Sponsor]

Did you have a sump? I could always put the old stuff in my refugium to prevent a crash. Sorry to hear about that, I couldn't imagine that happening to me, I would be absolutely mortified.

 

[Saltgator]

IMO, I have tried the black live sand. It is kinda cool in a a fish only system, but it seemed to take away from the corals color. I ended up mixing it in with my white and now have a speckled based live sand that has a nice balance I think. As for the MH from T5, I would keep the corals middle and judge them over the next few days. I went from PC to MH, so a huge jump. 260 watts in a 55 gallon to 942 watts over a 125 gallon!!!!
All my corals adjusted easily within 2 weeks. Most of my corals are all moderate lps. My corals have always visually told me what they need more or less of. Good luck

 

[Reef Breeders Verified Sponsor]

Im going to have a lot of power heads going to prevent detritus, and I had the same problem recently as I removed a powerhead. I have a good sized clean up crew that just loves that stuff. I have never seen my nassarius snails below the sand since a couple days after I bought them, they are always eating and growing.

 

[Reef Breeders Verified Sponsor]

and I find that phyto adds any removed color to most corals, it is really pretty cool.

 

[Reef Breeders Verified Sponsor]

Do you think it will work if I keep all of the finer sand that is below the flaky stuff, and put the flaky top substrate in my refugium, then put the black sand on top of the old bottom layer?