Taking out sand

[wontonflip]

Other than of course, a nitrate spike, what repercussions would there be for taking out 50% of the sand in a 10 gallon? Mini cycle? It's got a dsb right now, and I'd like to just lessen it a bit....then again, I have a pistol shrimp that loves to dig out his cave. I also have a clown goby, a firefish, 3 cucs, and 2 large mushrooms and 3 small mushrooms.

Or what if I do it gradually? I'm going to be doing a water change this weekend, so I thought I'd scoop a bit out while I was changing the water. Any thoughts? Should I just leave it be?

 

[mng777777]

You can take off the top +/- 1/2 inch without too much problem in the tank. If you are trying to remove sand while the tank is still stocked then I fear you will be stuck removing it layer by layer ever 3 weeks or so. How long has the tank been set up? What kind of filtration are you running? What does your stock list look like?

 

[wontonflip]

Let's see....I think it's about 4 months old.....something like that. It's got about 15lbs of lr, dsb...... 1 pistol shrimp, 1 clown goby, 1 firefish, 2 hermits, 1 nassarious, bunch of shrooms (2 large, 3 small). I've got a hob skimmer. I don't like it much. No sump for this tank yet.

 

[mng777777]

Your pistol shrimp is the one most likely to be affected by a nitrate spike. Your sand is relatively new which should make it easier to remove some without a major crisis. How deep is it and how much do you want to remove, and Why?

 

[yote]

+1 Justin
I think it would be safer to just remove 1/4 to 1/2 inch off the top.Then wait a week or so and remove some more.

 

[wontonflip]

Let's see....it is probably about 3 in deep. If i were to dig any out, I'll probably do it off the opposite side of the tank that the shrimp doesn't go to. He stays under the same large rock all the time. Maybe I'll just leave it be. I don't like the look of the dsb much, but I'll probably just leave it alone. I'll be upgrading it to a 20 gallon one of these days. I'll probably just build the 20, wait for it to cycle, then just move the critters there.

 

[mng777777]

That sounds like a better plan! the 10 will make a great sump for the 20 so you will solve two problems at the same time!

 

[dcantucson]

A little each week is best, I think.
I removed all my sand in my Zero Edge (there was a lot!) but I did it once a week in about 5 segments and had very little problems with water quality.