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Caviar

Help- Substrate change

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Caviar
, 02-27-2011 at 12:52 AM (2172 Views)
When I first setup my tank, the guy at the LFS suggested Crushed Coral, and now after doing some actual research and even from my own experience, ive come to the conclusion that CC is not the best for my tank. Of course, now Im stuck with the task of changing my substrate, but my question to you guys is this: How do I go about doing this without putting unnecessary stress on my fish and corals? I dont have a quarantine tank, so I'd rather not risk extracting my fish unless I absolutely need to. I've purchased argonite and plan to wet it down and put a nylon sock with a cocktail shrimp in the sand to start bacteria growth.
I want to more or less totally remove the CC, and have a complete argonite sandbed. Suggestions please
Thanks in advance for any tips!

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Comments

  1. DJ in WV's Avatar
    you could remove what you can with a small cup and vac out the remaining with a like a 3/4 plastic tubing or smaller depending on the grain size. If you have LR in the tank i think washing argonite and putting it back thur a tube would be ok not sure the size of your tank but if you worried about cycling you could do it in sections over time maybe separate the areas with a piece of acrylic . Im no expert on this but my first tank i had cc in it and it just turned to a septic tank so i can feel your pain. Thinking about it as i write small areas would probably be best so you dont stir up nutrients for a algae bloom. Good luck
  2. Turbosek's Avatar
    make sure you use a raw (grey) shrimp. The orange ones are cooked and will not rot as well. I would slowly take the CC out, daily, but over a period of a month....till you almost have a bare bottom. Then add the new stuff all at once. You can start the cycling right now, and your bacterial filter will further establish in the new substrate after it goes in.
  3. Caviar's Avatar
    Thanks guys, I started this morning and changed out about 1/8 of my substrate. It looks like a sandstorm, but my inhabitants seem okay. Im not worried about the algae bloom, because frankly, my substrate was causing too much algae as it was, which prompted my wanting to change to Argonite.