Adding Sand Depth To My Aquarium...

[cbianco]

These questions pertain to increasing the depth of the sand that is currently in my tank. I currently have about 1" to 1.5" of sand in the tank.

I do NOT want to increase the depth of the sand in my tank for filtration reasons, ONLY astetical reasons (I like the way a deeper sand bed looks!). I would like a total depth of about 2" to 3". I know that this is technically not as deep as DSB are usually, again filtration is not my motivation.

I researched this topic at www.about.com, www.miniaturereef.com and past posts in several forums.

My questions are:

1. Can I put this much sand into my tank WITHOUT running a skimmer? (I do regular water changes.)

2. Will I have difficulty with waste acculation? (Most places note this but do not go into detail.)

3. What problems will I encounter when adding sand to an established tank? (Re-cycle?)

I appreciate any answers to these (or unasked) questions. Thanks.

Christopher

[eric]

1 and 2. I couldn't answer. I've got about the same depth as you currently.
3. I've added sand - a couple times at about 10 lbs each. You can add sand from a cup, slowly submersing trying not to start a storm and pour once you reach the bottom. it'll settle out after time. As far as cycling, I don't think it would unless you're adding live sand.

But that being said, I see your sig says a 24 gallon cube. First I'm gonna assume this is the tank you're talking about and my second assumption is it's an 18" cube.

1. Do you like the way a 3" sand bed looks in an 18" tall tank, or a bigger tank?
2. Adding that much more sand is gonna reduce the water volume another 1.5 gallons/inch. Since you've already got 20 lbs of sand and another 20 lbs of rock losing an additional few gallons of water could be critical.

Just a complete side thought, if all you wanted was the depth for looks, you *could* raise everything using something like a Jaubert system, with the front edge of the plenum backed off so you could hide it with sand. I don't have any experience with the Jaubert type setup, but you could look that up. That would require tearing down the whole system. You'd get to keep some of the water volume.

[cbianco]

eric

I'm not to worried about the sand making a mess in my tank, my turkey baster will make short work of that lol. Yes I was thinking of adding live sand, yes I am refering to my 24 gallon nano-cube and yes you are about right on point with regards to the display area of the tank.

I like being able to see the sand bed against the side of the glass. Besides astetics, you also get to see all of the "life" in you sand. I never really thought about reducing water volume, but it does make perfect sense (how could I miss that?).

It is late tonight but tommorow I will look up details on the Jaubert system that you mention. I don't really care for taking my tank apart so it is PROBABLY not a viable option but who knows. :)

Christopher

[jaded]

I just added 50lbs of VERY LIVE Sand to my 135... That was a big bucket of sand!!!

When I was adding the sand I noticed an ammonia smell where water was pooling at the top of the bucket. I found a large turbo snail shell that seemed to be causing the smell but If that guy died you can bet that plenty more did too. I threw that shell out and added the entire bucket of sand, causing quite the cloud. I noticed a small spike in amm. (up to .25 max) but that was the only negative. As a matter of fact I probably fed my carnation coral with the cloud, he looked great for 2 days :D

This is just a story to help you with your research... I'm not suggesting that you do as I do, I'm actually pretty close to an idiot, so dont follow my lead, but I did get away with the ole' sand dump and run without any real bad stuff happening.

[cbianco]

jaded

Glad to hear that the minor amm. spike didn't reek havok on any of your inhabitants. I figure that there will be a few parimeters that are thrown off regardless of how much sand I add to the tank. I am also concerned with regards to acceptable and functional dephts of sand in the tank. If I put too much sand then it could cause problems.

I'm still researching and any additional information would be (is definately) appreciated!

Christopher