Safely Change sand in 10gal Nano?

[SherryQ]

I want to re-aquascape my 10 gallon nano and I have been looking at some pics. I really like the look of the all black sand. Could I safely change out all of my sand? I plan on putting the fish and critters in a bucket while I do all the rearranging. Here is more info on the tank.

10 gallons
SeaClone skimmer
hang on the back filter with carbon
heater
pc lights

inhabitants
1 cryptic wrasse
1 yellow watchman goby
1 clown goby
2 sexy shrimp
a few hermits and snails.
macro algae

 

[starrfish]

Sherry - I've never done it myself, but I've read that you can safely vaccuum out the sandbed without disturbing too many of the nasties. I think if you are planning to remove your livestock before you vaccuum the sandbed, you should be fine. Those black sandbeds are pretty, but I've read you can notice the gunk that collects on them. You might have to be more diligent in doing weekly vaccuumings of the sand. Yuk - who needs more vaccuuming??

 

[SherryQ]

Oh, I didn't think of that - I don't want to do more vaccuuming! Hmm, I will have to think about it.

 

[starrfish]

Marc had some black sandbeds at his store - you might want to ask him what he thinks. Again, this is only hearsay for me...I've never had a black sandbed.