Tank changes - Problems with this plan?

[FunGuy]

It's hard to part from the fish and the hobby entirely. I can do away with the SPS and wait till I have a large tank one day... I'm thinking of converting my barebottom mixed sps/softie tank to a lower maintenance softie/lps tank.

Let me know what you guys think could be a problem, whether the fish can stay in my tank while I make changes or if it will cycle and I really need to separate them first...

1) Get rid of all my sps and most of my other coral.
2) Lights out for extended periods, minimally feed my fish, keep skimming, water changes, add more cleanup crew, get rid of my algae issues...
3) Reaquascape a little at the top, but keep the base the way it is
4) add sand and seed the sand
5) add coral slowly

How many lbs of sand should I buy? 3-5" deep is probably too much for a cube so probably 1.5-2"?
Where's a good place to get it and which kind? I am not sure if I want to go with the super fine sand right now.

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.

- Herman

 

[Dyngoe]

Hey Herman,

Here are my two thoughts (and mind you I moved my tank three times in the last six months with only one causing any issues):
1. Take the fish out for a few days with some live rock for bio. It's SOOOO much easier to work without fish.
2. Put only "dead" sand and rock back in the tank.
If you don't remove much rock and keep what you have alive in the process their is no need to re-cycle the tank. It should be good to go once the dust has settled. The way I look at it you are not adding any bio-load and you do not need to worry about decaying material on dead rock/sand, so what's the possible problem. I would soak ANY rock I got for this in bleach for a day and the spray off/dry in the sun for a day or two and then soak again in water with chlorine treatment for another day just to be sure.

 

[phishphood]

Dyngoe has some good ideas. Also, don't buy any "live" sand from a store. Go for the dry stuff unless someone is breaking down their tank. Rinse the sand out really nicely until there's no more dust coming out of it. One way to get it in the tank w/out a sandstorm is to put it in through a funnel/tube all the way to the bottom.

 

[FunGuy]

Thanks for the input. I guess in the next few weeks after I get ridda more of my coral, I'll start the transition over a weekend.

 

[Elite]

is there a reason why we should use dead sand beside cost?

 

[phishphood]

for the rock, I'd prefer liverock just because I always like more biodiversity in my tank.
For sand, I prefer dead sand because I can rinse the heck out of it so nothing will cloud up when I add it to the tank. After adding the dead sand, I like to seed with a cup or two of livesand from other people's tanks.

 

[iani]

Live sand that is packed with water doesn't cloud up the water typically. If it does its very little.

 

[phishphood]

Ian are you talking about the LS available at LFS or from other people's tank-teardowns?

 

[iani]

At the LFS. I've used it in the past with out clouding my water. If I recall correctly the specific sand I used was samoan pink sand.