Replacing 2 1/2yr old sand

[Cammed_02]

I will be replacing my sand after the holidays and wanted people's opinions on some thoughts I have. My current sandbed is very thin from syphoning over the last 2 years and needs replacing. I like the look of the Nature's Ocean Bio-active Natural White live Aragonite Sand. Can I buy 50-60lbs of this live sand and then add another 40lbs or so of dry sand or will I run into problems down the road? Also do you rinse your sand at all or just throw it in and let it cycle as is?

I will be removing all livestock during this endeavor. I need to re-aquascape anyway so any cycle that the sand stirrs up won't be an issue to the livestock.

http://www.southseasaquatics.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=27_70&products_id=1688
http://www.petco.com/product/112009/Natures-Ocean-Aragonite-Sand.aspx

[Dkray944]

If you're removing ALL livestock(fish, coral, etc) then I would put it all in at once and let the tank cycle thru for a couple if of weeks. I know a fellow reefer in Austin that crashed his tank by adding sand to a frag tank he hooked up to his display tank. As far as rinsing the sand I would consider it for the dry sand but not for the live sand because I wouldn't want to wash away anything worth keeping. If you decide to rinse all you need is a 5 gallon bucket and a hose. Just put the sand in the bucket and periodically stab the sand with the open hose and let the water drain over the top. Personally I would go with all live sand.

[Dean]

My experiences with live sand vary.
I used Hawaiian black for my 65 and did not need to rinse it. There was no powdery residue at all. On my biocube I used live crushed coral and it took me over a year of vacuuming to get rid of all of the powder out of it. I seriously regretted not rinsing it prior to putting it in the tank. If the sand that you get does have any powder to it at all I would definitely suggest to making up enough saltwater to thoroughly rinse or vacuum the sand before you put it in your tank.

Any luck finding a temp tank?

[Cammed_02]

If you're removing ALL livestock(fish, coral, etc) then I would put it all in at once and let the tank cycle thru for a couple if of weeks. I know a fellow reefer in Austin that crashed his tank by adding sand to a frag tank he hooked up to his display tank. As far as rinsing the sand I would consider it for the dry sand but not for the live sand because I wouldn't want to wash away anything worth keeping. If you decide to rinse all you need is a 5 gallon bucket and a hose. Just put the sand in the bucket and periodically stab the sand with the open hose and let the water drain over the top. Personally I would go with all live sand.

Yea if I go the dry sand route I will definitely be rinsing it thoroughly. All livestock will be pulled from the tank for a few weeks for sure. I don't want to chance it and lose anything.


My experiences with live sand vary.
I used Hawaiian black for my 65 and did not need to rinse it. There was no powdery residue at all. On my biocube I used live crushed coral and it took me over a year of vacuuming to get rid of all of the powder out of it. I seriously regretted not rinsing it prior to putting it in the tank. If the sand that you get does have any powder to it at all I would definitely suggest to making up enough saltwater to thoroughly rinse or vacuum the sand before you put it in your tank.

Any luck finding a temp tank?

No luck yet, it's still about a month away before I start but I will keep searching and hopefully someone can lend me one. There's a lot of good people here so I'm sure it won't be long before I find one.

[furam28]

Wet live sand in a bag is not really teeming with life! None of the creatures (pods, worms...) survive when sealed inside a bag for months. Runs out of oxygen, food... Only thing that survives is a small portion of the bacteria. But bacteria multiply very fast (doubles every half an hour, so in 1 day, a single bacteria can give rise to a billion bacteria!). You are much better off, taking 5 cups of our old live sand (rinsed off to get rid of debris and waste) , and seeding 5 bags of dry sand. Let it sit for a week or so with a heater and a powerhead (there is most likely going to be a mini cycle, which is good because then your sand will be much more stable. You can add a little food, or a piece of frozen shrimp, to aid the cycle). You are much better of starting with dry sand because in that way you can rinse it well. If you really think the wet live sand in the bag may have some bacterial strains that your established tank is lacking (which is possible), all you need is a very small amount of that wet sand. So you can mix in a small bag of wet live sand with the rest of the dry sand. What crashes tank is a cycle - and there is going to be a cycle, whether you start with wet sand or dry sand. So make sure to let the sand cycle for a week or two before you add it to the tank.

[Cammed_02]

I would agree that using all bags of live sand would be overkill. I myself would prefer to use 1 or 2 bags of ls with the rest being dry sand. My only concern is getting the right dry sand to prevent problems later from any sort of leaching. Will that kind of dry sand in the link above be ok?

[EpicWin]

Find Troy Valentines thread on this. He replaced all of his sand in. 300 gallon tank in 2 increments and did not remove all of his livestock. His tank looks better than ever!