Changes out the Deep sand bed

So I have gotten alittle annyoed with my DSB. I know that after some time they can start to cause issues. I think it is starting now! So I am thinking that I need to change it up, and I was looking for some feed back on my plan of attack. First, should I even bother changing it? The tank has been running about a year. I have a build up of algae, and bubbles under the sand in some parts of the tank. The DSB in the DT is over 4", and i have another DSB in my fuge, i would say 6+" in depth.

my plan:
Remove all organisms and place buckets with heaters and tank water.
LR with out life on it gets a sperate bucket.
Start scooping out/ sypiohn the old sand.
Cleaning off the side of the tank. Adding LR [the large peices] before then new sand.
Then adding new sand.
Plate on top of the sand add new water [ I was thinking of doing roughly 50% H2O change]
Then last but least the organisms and rest of rock work.

If there is anything i left out or screwed up let me know cause I was thinking of doing this tonight.;D

 

i would suck out most of the water into a sterile trash can to save, before removing the sand. there will be alot(i mean alot) of crap built up in sand bed. when you remove the bed all that stuff will be freed and dispersed into the water. you will need to completely change any water left in the tank after the removal.

 

yeah i was going to fill the holding buckets with my tank water. I was going to keep over 15gal for sure. Then I think I already have another 10-15 gal made and ready. Any water being saved is coming out before the sand, i was going to use the other water to get out that last bit of crap/ sand that I couldnt get from scooping.But I need to do a water change anyway...50% should be to much, most the good stuff is in the rocks. There shouldnt be to much of a cycle if use new sand and get most the old crap out.

 

do I add a couple of scoops from old sand? Do I need to seed that new sand since I know I have cured rock and LS in my fuge?

 

no like you said the lr has the good stuff

 

thats what i was thinking. TO be honest I am kind of stressing about taking out the sand, so i want to cover all my basis. But I think its just doing more harm then good. It is also set up with a plenum, which lately I have been wanting to get rid of. The real question is, how am I going to get 20 lbs of sand home on the motorcycle with my mule on the back

 

wear a tight shirt, put it under the front of your shirt. people just think you have a beer belly.

 

I already have a beer belly, but its not big enough for the sand to sit on! I guess I dont have to go 100 mph all the way home...haha yes I do!

 

I have another option. this will take about a month to do and it is how I treat my deep sand bed. My tank is a year old and I have 4" of sand in dt. I take a turkey baster and do about a 6 square inch area and insert the baster and blow water thru it. then I do a 15 to 20% water change. Just do a small area at a time.

 

Why get new sand? Just wash the heck out of what you pull, and put in the amount to get a proper sand bed depth.
One thing I caught in the posts, is the cycle. You will go through a sizable cycle, whether you wash the sand, get new sand, dry sand, whatever. Probably going to be a bigger one too. Just a heads up.