changin sand

[PufferGuy]

so lately my sand is growing all kinds of crap on it... i know 50% of it is due to my lights getting old, but i have mostly crushed coral and i think thats whats causing the rest of the problem

how can i replace my crushed coral with sand without emptying the tank and taking everything out? I know that i might risk a cycle but im looking for the best plan of attack to replacing the crushed coral with sand while all my fish and coral are in there.

 

[yote]

The easiest way I've found to do that.Is get one of those little plastic kiddie shovels (the kind that comes in easter baskets or beach toys) and a strip of plexi-glass 3 or 4 inches wide and long enough to reach from the glass to the rock.Work the plexi-glass down through the crushed coral to the bottom glass,but dont get to much at once.You only want to remove a little less than 1/4 of the CC at a time.Once you've got the CC scooped out of the section,fill a zip-loc baggie with some rinsed dry aragonite sand and sink it to the bottom of the tank.Then very slowly work the sand out of the baggie (you'll have to do that several times to fill the section).Then give a week or so and do another section,leaving the plexi between the crushed coral and sand each time until the tank is filled with sand.Dont worry about what crushed coral is under the rocks.

 

[Jschoon]

I used a one inch piece of clear plactic tubing and syphoned out my CC. It was easy and all the "bad" stuff got sucked out with it. Just had some fresh salt water ready to put back in to replace the water that came out with the CC.

 

[dcantucson]

I used a large plastic trash can and put the new rinsed substrate into it with water from a water change. I put a heater and a light on it and let it cycle for 5 weeks to get the bacteria growing good. I then siphoned out the sand in the DT and replaced it with the new sand. It worked out excellently.