Switching to Sand?

[ratherbefishin]

I have a 20 gal FOWLR that I've had for 4 months now. Originally I chose the crushed coral as my substrate, but recently I've been thinking sand looks so much better and seems like some invertebrates and fish prefer its finer texture.
My question is...how feasible would it be to switch my substrate, and will it cause a mini-cycle to take out the substrate I have now? Could I do it gradually, switching a few pounds at a time? Would the sand cloud up the water and be bad for my livestock?
Thanks in advance for any advice you may give.

[sir_dudeguy]

[welcome]

take out the cc as soon as possible and put in plain dry sand. You should not see any spikes or anything. But the cc will be a possible problem if you dont get it out cuz it will trap stuff and cause nitrates.

[TekCat]

just to be on a safe side, take out CC gradually. Don't worry about sand storms. In oceans they happen all the time, and all marine life knows how to handle them.

[CPT. MURPHY]

[welcome]


I would take it out slowly as well.

CPT.

[Fermat]

I'm in the same situation. I will be adding live rock in a couple of weeks once its done curing, and have been considering taking the opportunity to remove my crushed coral and replace with sand.

Can someone elaborate on a good procedure for removing the cc? (to avoid clouding up the water too much)

Is normal playsand from home depot good enough, or should I be looking for something with more calcium? I've noticed that my calcium levels are good, probably because of my cc? I don't have any critters yet that would deplete it.