Switching crushed coral out for sand in established tank

[SakuraSky]

I have a 90g fowlr that came with crushed coral (bought & moved an established tank)
I've recently had a downfall in my tank (mysteriously lost all but 1 fish) and parameters are fine and no signs of disease. Going to wait 45 days till I add more fish but I'd like to take this time to swap out the crushed coral to sand as I would like to have wrasses/sand sifting snails and I like the look better. I know how to switch substrates and I'll be doing it slowly. Kinda torn on what brand of sand to get so I guess I'll just buy 1 bag and see how it goes . I'll be posting progress pics here because I know there's not too many threads here on the process since most people don't switch.
My tank includes a white tail bristletooth tang
2 short spine urchins
Some blue & red legged hermits

 

[Timfish]

I've always been partial to CaribSea's pink fiji live sand.

 

[SakuraSky]

I've always been partial to CaribSea's pink fiji live sand.

I may add a bag of this, I'm planning on going with Caribsea special grade and or ocean direct but I've heard a lot of people like mixing and adding 1 or 2 bags of the pink with the special grade

 

[jda]

I have to add sand every few years. The wet stuff makes less of a mess and is a good mixed grain size. If you want cucumbers and stuff, then it cannot be too big. You probably cannot go wrong here as long as you choose aragonite from a beach somewhere and not stuff crushed up by man.

 

[SakuraSky]

I have to add sand every few years. The wet stuff makes less of a mess and is a good mixed grain size. If you want cucumbers and stuff, then it cannot be too big. You probably cannot go wrong here as long as you choose aragonite from a beach somewhere and not stuff crushed up by man.

I've been fine-tuning my research and customer reviews and it looks like I'll be going with caribsea special grade or ocean direct. Since I don't have corals I *might* be able to get away with oolite or the ocean direct, as blowing around really isnt a concern of mine! I have flow but not super high flow so I'm really tempted to go a finer grain

 

[reefadam]

I echo what others have said with Fiji Pink being my favorite. Special grade is a tad bit larger particle size which I don’t feel looks quite as nice, and anecdotally, I don’t believe the sifters like it as much, especially the smaller guys like rainford’s/ hectors, twinspot etc. even small diamonds seemed to enjoy it as much.
That said you could mix, I always add in some pieces of crushed corals for pistol shrimps/ jawfish.
If there’s only 1 fish left, should be a pretty straightforward removal depending on the depth.

 

[SakuraSky]

I echo what others have said with Fiji Pink being my favorite. Special grade is a tad bit larger particle size which I don’t feel looks quite as nice, and anecdotally, I don’t believe the sifters like it as much, especially the smaller guys like rainford’s/ hectors, twinspot etc. even small diamonds seemed to enjoy it as much.
That said you could mix, I always add in some pieces of crushed corals for pistol shrimps/ jawfish.
If there’s only 1 fish left, should be a pretty straightforward removal depending on the depth.

I did order a bag of Fiji pink already from Amazon, should be here tomorrow! Thanks for your personal opinion on the special grade.
I'll switch 1 bag of fiji pink and if it works well and to my liking I'll order more or I'll mix with a larger grain like the direct or special. I plan on removing one section at a time since I have to move my rock formation. My crushed coral isn't that deep right now because I have been slowing removing it regardless, there was waaay too much when I transported the tank. It's at a good depth now so shouldn't be too hard to remove

 

[SakuraSky]

Finally had time to start the switch. Way more work than I expected it would be lol. I also took this time to do a partial water change as well to suck up some detritus left behind etc and clean the overflow & tubes which I haven't done in forever. But a little less than half the crushed coral is out. Will add the sand tomorrow. Tank is dirty (a bit of cyano and brown alage) because I've let it go longer than normal between cleanings, the copepods are happy though haha.
In a week or 2 I'll start on the other side to give it time to adjust and not to shock it. I am sad to move all my rocks as I love the way I had them set up and even with pics it's hard to place them back the same. All the rock on the right will have to be moved over! I will have to gravel vac before I move the cc too, it's just too messy. But man what a process.
My back hurts
Will post when the sand is in on one side

 

[SakuraSky]

It's been a week so I put some of the sand in today. Want to put more in but don't want to over cloud the tank so I'll let it settle and then add the rest to the same side tomorrow. It looks nice! It's the Carib sea Fiji pink
I'll let it get acclimated and "live" up and probably in another week do the other side. I can't help but feel bad about the millions of copepods I'm probably killing when removing my old crushed coarl lol

 

[SakuraSky]

One bag of sand in, I'm loving it, thanks for all the suggestions! It's beautiful and so easy to suction up detritus and poop lol I wish I had switched sooner! My nassarius snails immediately moved over to this side hah

 

[Naturalreef]

What a difference! Love the clean look.

 

[SakuraSky]

Just got the tank fully switched over! A slow process but worth it and no crash at all.
Nitrates are 2ppms and added about 30lbs more dry rock to create more dense hiding spaces + increase the bio filtration.
2 bags of sand used