Sick of sugar sand.

[fishrfreinds]

Hey, In my cycling 55 gallon aquarium i have sugar white sand. Well its kind of a lot of work clean the fliter, power heads ever time i stir up the sand. So as i was the tank is cycling and i have a 50 gallon barrel were i store Ro water and currently its empty. so i wanted to change it to chrushed corral instead. ive had it before and like it a whole lot more then current state so if i take the water out, change the sand, well it effect the cyclying time(will i have to start over?). thanks.

 

[dskidmore]

A) why are you stiring up the sand?
B) after you finish cycling the effect won't be as bad, as the bacteria will help the sand grains stick together and stay on the bottom.
C) Yes, you would significantly increase your cycling time if you changed the substrate.

You might give your sand a longer trial period before giving up on it.

 

[Hara]

The sand will saturate and quit being a pain. The question asked on why you are stirring it up is a good one. This is not a good thing to be doing with any substrate, especially after the tank has been established a good while. You will find if you switch to crushed coral, that maintenance will be more difficult. Detritus will get into cracks and crevices, higher nitrates will result with ulitimately nuisance issues occurring.

 

[fishrfreinds]

im talking like when the powerhead drops to bottom, the hydrometer falls, you move rock(get the sand off of it).

And i have decieded not to do it after reading things about CC.

 

[Civicman86]

You should send my your sand, Im in the market

 

[dskidmore]

Accidents do happen, but hopefully after you get fully set up things will stabilize a bit so it happens less.