please read - update - ooo, aahh Pics LOL

Oh yeah,back to your original questions.If you would like to end up with more rock than you previously had you could do some dry and maybe cherrypick a couple of nice live pieces with some coralline to get things started.Since you probably would like to get this done and your livestock back in as soon as possible,the more live the better but it is exspensive as I'm sure you know.I would think that as long as you end up with close to the amount of live as your tank originally had you should be good.When I removed my sand I just scooped it out with a plastic cup and tried to keep an eye out for snails as I dumped it into a bucket.I'm sure I missed alot with this method.If you sift through it with your fingers you will probably find more but I would definitely wear some gloves as you might also find some bristleworms.Before I added my new sand I rinsed and rinsed it and still had a huge dust cloud in the tank that took a good 12 hours to settle which is why I suggest moving your rock to buckets with water beforehand.I had mine and some of the corals in buckets for two days and everything was fine.I did have a small heater and airstone in the one that had corals in it.

 

If you really want to make sure you don't add any extra nutrients, dry rock, soaked in bleach and muriatic is the way to go. It is a nasty procedure (details all over the web) but works well. Live rock is nice, you just don't know what it's been exposed to. Nutrients bind to rock when levels in the tank are high and leach when nutrients in the tank are low. Honestly a lot of rock isn't stored at the LFS under the best conditions.. Dry rock will become "live" quickly in an established tank. So, I don't usually get "live" rock. If you do, get it from a good source, such as :http://tbsaltwater.com/

 

ok....the work has begun LOL.....new saltwater is being mixed and heated...tomorrow is the big day....got a couple of nice new pieces of rock from the LFS......bought new sand, one bag live the other dry....(only way I could buy it so I got what I needed not buy 10 pounds I didn't need)...I got a mix of smaller aragonite and some crushed coral arogonite (larger grain)....had a long discussion with LFS guy with him saying I didn't need to switch out my rock or sand - but I'm moving ahead.....got a hang on filter for GAC and GFO......will go where my canister hoses are now.....got some cheato from the LFS and added to the DT....who knows, maybe that can absorb some nitrate.....wish me luck! rinsing sand will be later tonight.....one benefit to the live is that I hopefully won't have to rinse as much as dry but who knows....I'm going to remove some rock - replacement pieces were on the large size - the stuff I remove I'm going to take to the LFS.

what do people recommend as far as the pellets go? My LFS said to keep it with what I have running now, I was thinking of reducing the amount and starting at 1/4 the final dosage...really need some input on this....also I have some microbacter 7 and was thinking of adding as if I'm starting a new system....advice? I also have Prime.....wasn't planning on using that though unless advice suggests I do..

 

Well moving right along there, excellent.

So the canister is going?

The pellets are still running?

Seems to me having Prime, extra carbon and extra new SW made up is a very good safe guard.

I am a bit confused as to how you are going to remove the sand bed? How deep is it again? Did you tell me it's shallow and you vacuum it so it's relatively clean?

 

yes, it is relatively clean, don't pull up any dirt when I've spot vacuumed it. I'm going to move my livestockl, some live rock and some existing sand into a 20 gallon aquarium then remove rock - probably catch the live stock while moving out some rock and then all the rock, then most of the sand.....

yes, the canister and pellets are still running....so I'm thinking if I remove some rock then I should dose the bacteria to boost it correct? I could probably take the canister off line tonight.....advice?

 

You're running pellets, you probably have enough bacteria, maybe start at 1/4 of the recommended dosage.

 

That was my thought....so don't add any additional bacteria like the microbacter?

 

I really don't know if the bacteria in your biopellet reactor would help with the whole nitrification process or if they mainly are the type that consume nitrates and phosphates .Maybe someone with more knowledge of bacteria will chime in,but if I had to quess I would think that adding the microbactor 7 to help seed new sand and rock wouldn't hurt.

 

Well, 8 hours in and what a PITA!!! changing out a sand bed and doing a 50% water change.....taking a break and letting the water clear at the moment.....should be interesting to see what my nitrates reading is when this is all said and done...watch it be the same LOL

 

Nah,I'm sure you'll see a goood improvement,you're almost there,youwill be posting in the show off your fish tank forum soon.