setting up dsb?

[tazdevil]

I currently have a 75 gallon aga w/ 90lbs live rock and 1-2inches aragonite in it. Lfs set me up with amiracle wet/dry saying it was the only way to go (

). I would like to change this to a DSB setup and would like to avoid ripping the whole tank apart to acheive this (if possible) . So, 1: can I leave the aragonite on the bottome, and add live sand on top of it?
2: If so, how much live sand do I need, (if not, how much to get a dsb in a 75)?
3: (THE MOST CRUCIAL) How slowly should I remove the bioballs in the w/d to avoid serious ammonia/nitrite spike in tank .

Tank currently has 2yellowtail damsels, 2 neon gobies, 2peppermint shrimp, 1cleaner shrimp, 1blood or fire shrimp, 5 redtip dwrf hermits, 5zebra dwrf hermits, 3scarlet hermits.

any ideas????????

 

[31-2c]

I don't see a problem with adding the Live sand right on top. It will bury some of your live rock though. To give you an idea on how much. I have 103lbs of sand in a standard 55g. This gives me about 4 inches. As for the bio ball removal. I haven't done it yet. I have been told to remove about 1/4 or less every 4 to 6 weeks to give your DSB time to keep up.

 

[tazdevil]

so does the 1-2inches I already have count in the 4-5 inch depth required for dsb setup?? or is it too coarse and useless?.

 

[Anonymous]

You can add dead sand and then seed it with a small amount of live sand or a detrivor kit. Live sand is expensive.

You don't have to add all the sand at once--a lot of people built up existing sandbeds by adding a cup or 2 a day, pouring it down a peice of PVC pipe to keep it from getting cloudy.

Ty