[Mikeman]

over the past couple of days, I've noticed bristle worms coming out at night, and pods scurring around, because the death of my peppermint shrimp, I was going to change my sand bed during christmas vacation, because by then I'll have enough $ to get sd sand, and maybe a detrotive kit, but with all these pods and worms, I'm hesitint on changing it now, even though it would be better for the tank if I changed it, is there anyway I can save most of the pods and worms when I change it?

[Green Mariner]

Mike, you shouldn't change it all at once, do 25% at a time. This allows for the sand to become populated with bacteria and the "critters" to migrate over to the sand.

[tendar]

You dont have to chane it all either. Keep some and just add the new sand on top some every weeks or just sift through the sand you remove through some screen to save the critters.

[Aquariust]

Well here's what I did!

I used nylon screen (for windows) over a 5 Gallon salt bucket. I then got about 10 gallons of salt water. I poured the wet sand from my tank onto the screen placed over the 5G bucket. I then poured some water over the sand. The sand fell below into the bucket, with the water. But, the worms, pods, snails, etc... stayed in the net and were promptly put into my new sand bed. 110lbs of sand in about 2 hours time. I never saw any pods, or worms in my sand bed. But, I pulled out 10 or so bristles, and miss other small worms.

The sand accumiltes in the 5G bucket. When the 5g bucket is full of water, start the process over with the same water. Works pretty good

GL!

[Mikeman]

Dr. Ron says that I should change all of it, I'm going from cc to southdown, also I really don't know how I would be able to add a little bit at a time as, they would mix, and then I would be more or less screwed?

[organicreefer]

mikeman how much cc do you currently have?i wouldnt sift,its too much trouble,changing a little at a time sounds ok,but just adding to it sounds best imo.you dont need to change it all,you dont even NEED four inches of sand for denitrification(that can happen in as little as one inch of sand ime).i wouldnt worry too much about what doctor ron said.i do agree with him on dsb's,and he "knows" more than i ,im sure,but i dont think its THAT critical.as for removing a little at a time,so what if they mix a little there is a small amount of #1 cc in my sand bed(the rest of it is #0)and trust me its very alive ,and what i beleive to be the "backbone" of my tanks filtration .(i have gone up to two months without a water change, and nitrates are still below detectable levels)