i need a little help...

I agree. Do you have alot of rock and corals? Do you have a QT? You could put the fish in there. But, yea go slow man. Scoop with a lol... pooper scooper... and replace. Let settle and try more the next day. It would not be horrible if you cant get it all. The sand should cover the rest of the stuff up. So yeah just be patient and go slow.

 

If you scoop the buildup of nitrates in the cc bed is going to be "released" into the water.

 

Here is my play by play of how I would do it.

Perform a few 20% water changes over the next few weeks and SAVE that water. Then.......

1.) Remove the LR to a dedicated garbage can with some of your tank water. Put a powerhead in there to keep the water flowing. No heater necessary.

2.) Remove the livestock into a few 10 gallon tanks with some tank water. One powerhead and heater per tank.

3.) Take out the CC. Do with it what you will.

4.) Add your sand. I like the medium grain. Although the finer grain you go, the more surface area there is for bacteria to populate. But it stirs up easier into a cloud. Pros and Cons man. Pros and Cons.

5.) Add layers of saran wrap over the sand.

6.) SLOWLY add water to the tank. The saran wrap will rise with the water level and, if done right, will leave you with a clear tank by the end of it.

7.) Add the LR back in the tank. This is a good time to give the LR a light rinse in the water you are storing it in. Get that icky extra poopy stuff that has collected on it.

8.) Let the tank sit overnight. If the fish look stressed, go ahead and add them back in immediately. I kept my fish out for five days in holding tanks with no problems while I did a tank switch over.

9.) Have about 20 gallons of new SW ready (that has been mixing for a couple of days.

Together with the water from past water changes, the usable water that you have from this change out and the newly mixed H2O, you will have plenty. I would use all of the old WC water, as much of the water from the change out as you can (about 50% will be unusable) and the rest from your new mix.

 

thanks everybody!

 

I am currenty in transition of crushed coral to sand. I went to the lfs and got a scoop for scooping some other kind of animal product ,not sure what it is acctually for, but i am doing it slowly but surely. I am taking about three scoops out a day wait a week and three more scoops. I am doing it this slow because cc holds alot of bacteria good and bad and every time you scoop you can just see the crap come out from under there. like what peredhil said break it up into sections and use a divider to seperate the new from the old so you dont end up scooping new out with old. You will need to add mixed water after your done because the scoop takes out water and you dont want to let the water drain back into the tank.

 

good luck man sounds like a PITA for sure.

 

It's not as bad as it seems. Definitely do-able over a Saturday/Sunday. Mine took so long because my tank was leaking and I had to go get another tank, then paint it, then do a tank stand mod to fit it....blah, blah, blah. This is going to be a piece of cake for him.;D

 

John hit it right on the head. Tank would basically have to be torn down to do it properly. Once you get down to the CC and just enough water covering that, use a wet/dry shopvac to suck it out.
The one thing I would do is use dry sand instead of live. If you use live you will have die-off and a cycle of some form. Dry sand would help minimize the chances of that happening.

 

Anyway you slice it, I think there will be a cycle, so don't fret over it. It's just a thang. The WORST thing you can do is what I did. Add old sand, not washed, back into the system. Complete 2 month cycle ensued. You shouldn't experience that.

If you use LS, there will be a little die off. But on the other hand, there are nitrifying bacteria in the LS to combat that (a bit). If you add in dead sand (thoroughly washed) you won't have die off, but you will be taking away part of bacterial population. So a mini-cycle will ensue anyway in order to catch up.

I think it's a winner either way. Whatever works for you ITO cost and availability. I have never liked CC. A change up will just improve your system. As long, of course, as you are not performing other projects at the same time.

Another thing you can do wrong is do too much at once. Again, I fell into that trap. I currently have a mini-cycle going because I tried to do too many improvements alllllll at the same time. That wild hair was going good. The one you are doing is major. So just keep that in mind.