Crushed Coral Substrate

[wxl14]

Here is my dilema I have Crushed coral substrate as it was suggested to me when I first purchased my tank. I really want sand now. What is the easiest way to get the crushed coral out and add sand. I only have three fish in my 90 gallon tank. Its a fish only tank. Its been set up for almost 7 months.

 

[vanceny]

What I did was take it out in batches but I also kept a few cups to seed the sand. If you dont want to get the cc mixed with the sand then put them in a media bag and leave it on top of the sand for week or two and then take it out.

 

[DevIouS]

Drain all the tank water into some rubbermade tubs.
Remove your fish & Live Rock (if you have any) & place in the tubs.
Scoop out the Crushed Coral from the tank & put in your new sand.
Pump your used water back into the tank.
Let your filters run to clear up the water from the sand storm.
Put your live-stock back into the tank.

You're good to go....

Since your tank is "Fish Only" Crushed Coral should be ok.
It's definitley more a concern for reef tanks, since that substrate retains detrius & will lead to high nitrates.

 

[samster]

when people speak of CC easy to hold detrius that causes high nitrates do u guys mean those pebble like CC? liek the big chunks or the crush coral sand?

 

[wxl14]

Question what is recommended live sand, or the reef base sand.

 

[masterswimmer]

Pump your used water back into the tank.
Let your filters run to clear up the water from the sand storm.
Put your live-stock back into the tank.

No need to EVER have a sandstorm. Just lay a plastic garbage bag (cut open) on top of your sandbed. Put a container to pour the water back in on top of the bag. Fill and enjoy no storm whatsoever. Here's some pix of this procedure in my tank...............

Notice the hose on the left, flowing into a quart container on top of the bag:

Almost full, no sandstorm at all:

Aquascaped the same day:

swimmer

 

[wxl14]

NICE thanks for the pics