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I’ve replaced sand all at once (leaving just some smaller pockets of old sand) from my 4’x2’ tank. I’ve never found an issue with it however I did keep the majority of the water from the tank and took out coral, rocks and fish to do it. I recommend preparing to tear down the tank for a day when removing sand - Or even replacing the sand like I did. I lowered the grain size over 2 years and now I have a variety of sand sizes from the finest sand I could find to sand that’s rather large. I would personally go for a fine sand and leave some crushed coral in there (under the new sand) as over time if you have sand sleeping wrasses then it does mix in and give a more natural appearance to the tank. I have a thread on why I enjoy sand so much and it has photos of my sand bed and the mixture of grain sizes as well as the life 4 months after replacing the sand.I currently have crush coral substrate ( sort of a gravel). I really like the look of bare bottom tanks but when I started this tank 2 years ago I did not. Is it possible to take the substrate out? I know it would have to be gradual, but has anyone done this? And if so what was the best way to do it? One scoop a day removal of the gravel?