live sand?

[purplesprite]

If I remove my sand bed and rinse it thouroughly could I reuse it right away or will it have an ill effect on the reef?what Im tring to do is clean all the gunk out of it.I have chingos de feather worm things and detrius everywhere!HELP ME!

[urban79]

arrow crab will eat them. There is couple of other things that would eat them. But the arrow is the cheapest. And if you clean your sand youll be taking all the good stuff out too..

[JimD]

Sure, but youre going to kill off most or all of the beneficial micro fauna. Some people rinse it with fresh water then re-use it, you just need to reseed it and give it time for the critters to populate. I recomment doing this every 3-5 years to insure the health of the sandbed and minimise the potential hazard of 'old sand syndrome' which is the sand leeching the nasties back into the water.

[purplesprite]

yea Jim thats exactly whats happening to me.As it is the sand bed is only 1 1/2 deep and its 2 years old.Thats prolly why my nitrates are high.So by removing all the sand and replacing it with that "live sand" store bought in a bag.Its still got to cycle?

[JimD]

I wouldnt waste money on that stuff, you already have the sand, in fact, you need more, in order for a sandbed to function properly, you need a minimum of four to six inches, I suggest getting more sand and seeding it with some well established sand from other members tanks, before you know it, it'll be functional again and even thats not necessary if you have live rock in the tank. Just make sure its calcium based sand and super small partical size, aka, oolitic. Also, if you start with fresh sand, you dont have the concerns of a potential cycle.

[purplesprite]

yea I do need more sand Jim.Oolithic it is! thanks man.

[mathias]

yea I would add more sand as well....

[Mr_Cool]

I'm no expert, but why does a sandbed have to be 4-6 inches? There are plenty of tanks that are bare bottom and they do great. Now, if you're talking about a DEEP sand bed, that's different. The 4-6 inches would be necessary for the denitrifying bacteria to be established in an anaerobic/low oxygen layer. The way I understand it, this completes the nitrogen cycle.

Again, I'm no expert. I have a deep sand bed in my fuge and about an inch and a half of sand in the dispaly tank. My tank is not very tall, though, so I didn't want to give up that much room to sand. But, I do like the look of sand on the bottom of the tank better than bare bottom. So, the way I see it, I'm getting the best of both worlds.

[matt]

It depends on the size of your refugium. Deep sand beds need some area to support a diverse community of animals. If you have a 100 gallon tank and a 30 gallon fuge, it's unlikely that there will be enough animals in the sand bed to process the waste from the larger aquarium.

[caferacermike]

Another note to Mr. Cool's reply would be that decorative sand beds are best at around 1 1/2" or less since they can be stirred and exposed easily by strong currents. DSB begin working out over 4" deep. It's that space between 2"-4" where wastes are trapped but not processed.

[mathias]

and if he wants to go bare bottom thats great as well... just make sure to have a large skimmer.

[erikharrison]

Another note to Mr. Cool's reply would be that decorative sand beds are best at around 1 1/2" or less since they can be stirred and exposed easily by strong currents. DSB begin working out over 4" deep. It's that space between 2"-4" where wastes are trapped but not processed.

I agree, from what I have read, that is exactly on point. Save the dsb for your fuge! I have black and white sand in my fuge and it looks super sweet!

Jorge, I would put it in some buckets and wash it. If at all possible, do one side of the tank at a time, and over a period of a few weeks. That should also help in determining if the sand is your problem, and not something else.

[erikharrison]

While we're on this topic, what is good for stirring up a deep sandbed while not eating too much microfauna?

[JimD]

Fighting conch and Nassarious snails. I would never use a sand sifting star.

[caferacermike]

Add to that many wrasses and eels.

[Ping]

I would try stirring a little bit of the sand every day (plastic rod, kabob skewer, your hand). Corals will appreciate the release of bacteria and other possible micro life.

How about vacuming the sand. Or changing out 1/3 of the sand.

If we rinse the sand, try to do it in water change water.

When putting new dry sand in a tank it should be placed in saltwater for at least 24 hours prior to placing in your tank. This will prevent a large drop in Alkilinity. This short aging of the sand grows the bio-film on the individual grains of sand.

My personal preference is a Remote oolitic argaonite deep 4 -6" sand bed and 1 inch SB in the display, Just my opinion. There are many ways to keep a reef tank.

[purplesprite]

wheres the best place to get oolitic sand? I checked it out online and it cost as much or more for shipping than it does for the sand itself.Does anyone have it localy?

[erikharrison]

Home depot has some sand for sump use. It's cheap but you have to wash it good. Ask Urban79 (Jeremy)

[Ping]

Most of the LFS in SA can order Oolitic sand for you.

I "Personally would not wash Oolitic aragonite sand. It is very fine and the powder is good for our systems, it just needs some time to settle. It it is pre-soaked in salt water to build a bio film, less of it floats around. When soaking we can skim the top with a net or overflow the container to remove the floaties.

Then pour it into an existing system through a large piece of PVC pipe.

[reeferRob]

wheres the best place to get oolitic sand? I checked it out online and it cost as much or more for shipping than it does for the sand itself.Does anyone have it localy?

Dr Fosters sells various substrates average $1/llb and if I am not mistaken shipping is $10 for the first $100 or so... I get buckets of salt delivered to my door cheaper than driving to Pets-Mart and buying it. Just an idea