A Dilema

[OhTheHumanity]

I have a not yet cycled 55gal with coral gravel and 5 lbs of LR. There are 3 damsels, to sally light foots and a hermit in the tank.

Here is what I was thinking.

Buy a 10gal (which I will need for a QT down the road anyway). Remvoe water from my 55 and put it in the 10 and put my livestock in there. Then I would remove the coral gravel and replace it with live sand. After all the sand settles I would cycle with shrimp. Then replace my livestock back to the 55.

Now the questions.

Is all this necessary? I don't want to add sand to the tank with the livestock in there because I am afraid the sand my get in their gills.

Can I take out the fish long enough to add the sand? Should they not be in with a decaying shrimp? I'm thinking the ammonia would definately kill them.

I was going to use play sand and out LS on top of that. How much LS would would be good for seeding play sand in a 55gal?

I don't like asking so many questions, but I want to do this right. Last thing I want to do is waste money and worse yet kill my animals.


Thanks

 

[OhTheHumanity]

I ahve so much running through my head, I had already asked the shrimp with the livestaock question... Duh But if you want to answer again I'll be more than happy to listen. lol

 

[Wally]

I have been reefing for about 14 months and keep learning more every single day(great hobby). Is your question about removing the CC and adding Southdown in the first place or have you already made that decision? Also I have a 55 display tank with 60 lbs of live rock and sure wish I had more for appearance sake.

 

[OhTheHumanity]

I want to remove the CC and add LS and a base sand.

 

[steve-s]

How to change out your substrate

Cheers
Steve

 

[OhTheHumanity]

Steve was there supposed to be a link there? lol

 

[Wally]

The link worked for me ok

 

[fishfreek]

I judt think they didnt realise it was a link. Steve likes to hid links behind text.

THe fish will be ok with the substrate change. A little sand wont hurt them. After all what happens when a huricane comes across a reef? You dont want the fish in with the decaying shrimp. And I really dont think you want 3 agressive damsels in a 10 gal tank.

 

[WildFlower]

What I did recently was way too aggressive, but I took out my under gravel filtration, the cc base, plain and simple, I took everything out and cleaned the tank. I then added 115 lbs of LR with a very shallow live sand base, 1" at most. And If that were not enough I put my clown, 2 damsels and serpent right back in the tank.

My tank immediately had a massive ammonia spike, I've been fighting it for a few days with many water changes and a dose of ammonia xtinguisher which I would never recommend anyone resorting to (cept in my case).

However, so far so good... I may just be riding on the high side of my luck right now and all hell may break out in my tank at any moment. I've made lots of mistakes and most of them were because I did not research enough and acted too quickly. Time will tell.... 8) But a big thanks to all who have posted previous experiences and offered assistance... I'm hanging in there. WildFlower

 

[OhTheHumanity]

Yep Steve did hide the link from me... lol