Replacing Substrate

[SGreene]

Need advice from someone who has actually done this in a reef setup. There is so much conflicting information out there that you get confused. I have crushed coral bottom and managing PO4 is just getting impossible. I have Wrasse and Anthias so I feed multiple times a day. have a good population of snails and crabs but nassarius just don't survive. I have lot of Zoa and Palys and couple of SPS.

What I am scared about is getting a dangerous PO4 spike after the change and killing my corals. If you have done this, what did you do to make sure nothing bad happens? How were the corals after the change? Anything I need to pay special attention to? I am going to get a small grain argonite sand (NOT LIVE). Plan to empty the tank and siphon out old sand. Put in new sand, put some water back in and pour in something like Bio_spera, let it settle for few hours and put everything back in. Will keep the skimmer off for a day or two and run a fine filter sock to catch gunk.

 

[Playa-1]

I think you would be wise to go slow and remove a few cups of the current substrate at a time. Maybe a few cups every few days of so, until is gone. This will allow the tank to slowly adapt to the change in beneficial bacteria. You run the risk of much worse things then a PO4 spike by removing it all at the same time. I see no point in turning off a skimmer during the process either. Once it's all out then slowly add the new substrate back in over a period of time. No need to rush anything.

 

[SGreene]

Hmm, that's not a bad idea at all. It'll be pain in the gluteus but very safe.

 

[lowbudget]

Go slow and in sections. You will need to Think about additional filtration

 

[peter]

I did it. I removed all my crushed coral substrate in one go. Didnt lose anything. Probably wasnt smart but dont have a ton of coral. I just siphoned it all out and turned off all the pumps/ powerhead. Did it pretty slow and ended up adding less than half the tank with new sw.

 

[momo]

Perfect excuse to get a bigger tank :loldude:

 

[goliwala]

go for it.

 

[SGreene]

So I went slowly and removed a few cups every other day until half the crushed coral was gone. Then emptied the tank, took out old crushed coral, and replaced with WELL RINSED new sand. Fish were little stressed for a few hours but corals were all good. Couple of thing I did was to add a bottle of Bio-Spera but really not sure it was needed and put in a fresh batch of Phosguard. Also put in a heavy filter sock but again, it really wasn't needed since I rinsed the He__ out of the sand.

All looks much better.