Taking out crushed coral?

[kevin21]

hey,

i have a 55g reef that has been up for a year with crushed coral.
there was a bit of a preoblem with the temp. in there a couple of weeks ago because the heater turned on. :(

only inhabinats are...2 clowns...yellow watchman goby...some gsp...some capnella a hermit and an emerald crab.

i would like to replace the CC with arag. sand from old castle.(playsand)

hwo should i go about doing this? take out the crushed coral little by little every other day? then add the sand little by little to prevent sand storms?

i wont be able to get all of the CC out but i want at least 90% sand in there.

thyanks

[kraze3]

I would try to siphon it out, this way it shouldnt get to stirred up. You could take it out over the course of a few water changes or all at once it shouldnt matter.

Wash your sand thoroughly before you add to the tank. Then use a piece of PVC pipe and pour the sand into the pipe and that should keep most of it at the bottom of the tank.

[kevin21]

really? wouldnt i be shocking the tank if i took it all out at once? taking away bacteria?

it would be hard to get the sand in the back of the tank as of all the rocks.

any ideas?

[kraze3]

I think there should be plenty of bacteria on your rocks. If you feel more comfortable doing it over a few water changes then go for it. I have a 75 g and I had the gravel stuff in there, like in FW setups. I took it out all at once cause i hated it and i added sand with no ill effects.

To get the sand in the back you could use a smaller piece of pvc with funnel on top. add the sand slowly and it should work.

[kevin21]

ok....thanks alot

[Dubbin1]

When I switched mine over I just took it all out at once. What I did though was I put all of the rock, water and livestock in rubbermaid tubs then scooped out all of the CC. Next I put the sand in the tank, placed a trashbag over it and then pumped the water back in. The trash bag will keep the sand storm down to a minimum.

[kevin21]

thanks, ive heard of the trashbag method.