Adding sand

[coolhandgoose]

Okay I'm really getting tired of looking at the goldfish rubble at the bottom of my tank, so I was thinking I'd like to take all of it out and replace it with sand. I probably have 2 inches of the gravel in right now and hope to replace it with about 3/4" of sand.
Now the questions:
To avoid a new cycle should I buy live sand or regular sand?
There are a ton of pods and bristleworms making their home in the rubble so should I keep a small pile in the corner for now then take it out after they've spread to the sand?
I'll be taking the rocks and fish out and probably putting them in a rubber maid container for a few hours to let the sand settle, so... Should I try and get the larger sand particles so things settle quicker? I'm hoping the fish doesn't have to be in the bin for too long.
When taking the rock out, should I use a ziploc bag and make sure the rock isn't exposed to air? I finally have corraline growing on one of them and don't want to kill it.

 

[dcantucson]

Live rock won't die off out of the water for a few seconds, so no need for ziploc bags. Some believe exposure to air will kill off your coralline but I don't believe a few seconds of exposure will hurt it.

You can use regular ole sand and skip the live sand; it isn't necessary. Your Live Rock will 'seed' it just fine. One thing you can do is to place your old gravel/rubble mixture in several tupperware type containers and sit them on top of your new sand. The critters will spread out and over the new sand faster that way. Once it is well established you can easily remove the old gravel/rubble and dispose of it.

 

[Bifferwine]

Dcan is right on. I don't know of an easy way to save the critters in your gravel. Since your tank is small, you could probably rinse the gravel in a bucket (with saltwater) and that would rinse off a lot of them.

You don't need to buy live sand. Dry sand is fine. Most people think live sand is just a ripoff.

The sand will likely make your tank cloudy for longer than a few hours -- my tank took around 3 days to clear up. But this is okay and won't hurt your animals (I added sand to my 90 without removing any fish or rock, I just dumped it in).

 

[coolhandgoose]

That's what I was concerned about was the cloudy water and if it was safe for the fish. I think I'll try the tupperware idea.
Thanks for the advice, I'll let you know how it goes.
Once last thing though will corraline exposed to air really kill it?

 

[daugherty]

yes it can kill it if it is exposed to air for very long but it will come back

 

[AdeptMrSniffles]

To cut down on the "cloudiness" could you place the sand in a bucket with some salt water, let it settle, then take something to scoop it out of the bucket and place it in the tank? Or would it just cloud the tank again also? Cuz I'd like to add some more sand for a goby I'm interested in, but not interested in the havoc the cloudiness it will make.

Sorry, not tryin to thread jack. Maybe my question will help you as well :D

 

[daugherty]

the other thing you can do is fill a ziploc bag with the sand then put the bag in the tank and open it at the bottom and dump it out slowly

 

[AdeptMrSniffles]

the other thing you can do is fill a ziploc bag with the sand then put the bag in the tank and open it at the bottom and dump it out slowly

That's what I would do, after having it in a bucket for awhile.

 

[coolhandgoose]

Okay so I probalby won't have to do the unloading the tank into a rubbermaid bin trick. This is sounding better all the time :) I don't know why I was so worried

 

[AdeptMrSniffles]

Well, if your changing out your entire bed rock with sand, it'll probably be easier to remove everything. It sounds like a lot of work, but the process with be quick and painless for ya. Even if there IS die off of coraline, it'll comeback.

 

[dcantucson]

You can also use clean wash cloths (be sure there is no soap residue in them) and place them on top of the rock as you pull the rock out of your tank. The wet cloth will protect the corraline from coming into contact with the air and thus help to keep it from dying off.

 

[Bifferwine]

Or wet newspaper (wet with saltwater).

 

[coolhandgoose]

Okay it's done. Took me a couple of hours, but managed to remove 99% of the gravel. Man did it stir up a lot of crap in the tank.
I added the sand and the tank has settled a lot but I have a little bit of rearranging to do with the rocks and moving a bit of sand around.
I also got 5 nassarius snails, man are they cool, they hid right away into the sand. About an hour later I fed my fish a little bit and they all came out of the sand, it was like night of the living dead.
I also added a sexy shrimp so hopefully it does okay. I was probably a little hasty adding it after moving all kinds of stuff today.
The clown is doing good, not swimming sideways so that's a good sign so far.

 

[dcantucson]

Glad to hear it went well.