REMOVING CRUSHED CORAL

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

saywill

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Mar 26, 2007
Messages
158
Location
Connecticut
I was thinking about removing my crushed coral bed. Is this a good or a bad idea? I have had a nitrate problem forever and my last guess is that it is the crushed coral that is causing it. Any tips would be appreciated
 
There are a couple of ways you can do this for smaller tanks you can drain the water out and add sand then place rocks and water back in run a tandum filter to help clear it up, reacclimate the fish , then add fresh saltwater to your tank , water change done in the process , you will have a bit of diatoms but they will disappear on thier own . Do watch for a small cycle and have water at the ready for a water change should your tests indicate . For a larger tank mark off sections take that out add your sand keep going till it is changed out , do this at water change time this will help you to get the floating particles out .
 
According to your info it`s a 55 gallon tank. I would do as SadieLynn said and do it in sections. That `s what I`ve seen others do here with good success. Maybe do it in thirds. Just get yourself some plastic hose and siphon it out as you do your PWC and replace that area with sand.
 
After I remove the crushed coral, how do I add the sand without making a huge mess in the tank?
 
I used a plastic bowl. I turned off all my water movement equipment, lowered the bowl, letting the water fill up and sank it to the bottom and slowly poured it out. Others have used PVC to get the sane to the bottom.
 
I would cure the sand first then add it in stages. Curing it is similar to using the fishless cycle method for a tank. Put a few inches of sand in a container with mixed SW, add a cocktail shrimp and a small power head. Let the sand complete the cycle then add it to the tank.

"After the curing process, Live Sand should be introduced to the aquarium slowly. Place the sand in a large plastic bag and hold the top of the bag and submerge it to the bottom of the tank. Tip the bag onto the side, and slowly release the sand to areas of the bottom that you would like it to go. Gently smooth the sand to create an even layer across the bottom." (from Liveaquaria.com).
You could also use a large diameter section of pvc pipe, lowered to to the bottom that you then load/fill from the top. You then slowly lift the pvc section and move it around the area you are filling.

That sand bed calculator is a bit on the high side IMO. It tells me to use over 400 pounds of sand for 5" DSB in my 125. I used 300 pounds have a 6"-7" DSB.
 
How long can the tank go without a substrate? Can I remove the crushed coral, then add the sand at a later date?
 
saywill said:
How long can the tank go without a substrate? Can I remove the crushed coral, then add the sand at a later date?
yep you can go bare bottom . Some folks run them that way for as long as they have had thier tanks . You will be fine. I like the sand for a more natural look and to give the bacteria a bit more room to grow on in our tank but then ours are only 10 gallon tanks :D
 
crushed coral

Yesterday, I removed half of crushed coral from my tank. I removed the other half today. I checked the nitrates a few hours later it went down from 20 to 10 ppm.
I ordered Aragamax sand the other day and can't wait to put it in the tank. After the sand is in, you don't have to vacuum it?
 
Nothing more than running an air line tube over to pick up the loose ditrus (try not to get any sand )
 
when I do a water change I skim the top of the sand with the air line tubing , just close enough to pick up loose stuff but not sand , occasionally I will get a bit of sand . I do this weekly with water changes ...I also blow the ditrus off the LR with either a turkey baster or a pipette and move the air line to that area to pick up the junk , this removes excess ditris that can cause high phosphates and high nitrAtes . Sounds like yours are well on tier way down :)
 
well its been around 16 days since I removed all the crushed coral. I am happy to report that this is the 1st time in my tanks history to have 0 nitrates. So far, so good on switching over!
 
Back
Top Bottom