Moving a Tank & changing sand

[D_GR8_1]

Hi,

I'm in the process of planning the relocation of my existing 60Gallon Reef tank & i wanted some advice.

Firstly, I will be changing the tank, the new tank is about 50G.

During this move I want to take the opportunity to change my sand. What I have now is called "Reef Sand" (http://www.aquariumimports.com/salts-sand.htm).

This doesnt seem to be doing anything but collect lots of RED algae & air bubbles trapped within it, which I have been told are some sort of sulphur gas.

I was looking at replacing this with some crushed coral & something similar.

Will I lose a lot of bacteria by changing the sand?

At the moment I'm running a Fish-Only and the residents are:
2 clowns, 1 hippo tang, 1 yellow tang, 1 nasso tang, 1 Arabian Angel, 2 chromis, 1 coral banded shrimp.

What are the implications I should expect from this move & how can I deal with them?

Thanks.

[sylaak]

The gas is probably nitrogen.

[kau_cinta_ku]

i would be more worried about the tang police to begin with a 50 gal tank is way to small for 3 tangs especially the nasso and hippo IMO not sure about the angel though.

but anyway onto your question if you change out all your sand at once say bye to your bacteria as that is where it lives and sence you have no LR it will be hard i would stay away from the CC and stay with sand as it IMO looks much better and will do better job. to keep the bacteria you have you can prob. move the sand to one side and put the new sand on the other just to get it seeded then take out the old sand but watch your prameters close at the time

good luck

[D_GR8_1]

I do have Live Rock. By fish only I meant fish & LR, no corals.

I have been told different things by different people.

Some say that the bacteria in my filter & live rock will be sufficient enough, while others say that all the bacteria is in my sand.

As for the Nitrogen, I have been told that it is not actually nitrogen, it is gas formed by anaerobic bacteria which could potentially be deadly for my fish.

P.S. My tangs get along quite nicely!!!

[dascharisma]

Originally posted by D_GR8_1
P.S. My tangs get along quite nicely!!!

Good luck with that.

[percula3]

They just won't be happy in a tank that small.

[Spuds725]

Originally posted by D_GR8_1


As for the Nitrogen, I have been told that it is not actually nitrogen, it is gas formed by anaerobic bacteria which could potentially be deadly for my fish.


I'm told if you have sulfer gas-- if you get a bubble to come to the surface fo the tank, you will definitely be able to detect the rotten eggs smell of sulfur.

If you are afraid of this, reducing the sand depth should eliminate the gas formation-- sand is far better then crushed coral IMO.