Adding sand into 2 year old display reef

[nightmarepl]

Hey y’all so my tanks about 2 years old now I’ve been having phosphate issues which have caused major algae Dino cyano who knows what was at .92 phosphates now at .16 looks like it’s going away hopefully

while i was fighting it I’ve been siphoning it off the sand bed and picked up too much wanted to add 400lbs of sand back into the tank without causing a disaster what’s the best idea

i was told by my lfs using my tanks water to pour sand into a bucket then some water rinse it alittle and then it’s okay to add into the display but the sand has to be live sand with the little bacteria packets to add into the display with it?

 

[c_healy]

Use a piece of pvc that’s long enough to reach the bottom of the tank and a large enough diameter that you can pour your sand down into.

 

[Pistondog]

Someone else has done this, bht my suggestion:
Clean sand in buckets until no cloudy water, or it will cloud the tank. Then use a cup to transfer/ carry sand to the tank bottom, pumps off.

 

[nightmarepl]

Someone else has done this, bht my suggestion:
Clean sand in buckets until no cloudy water, or it will cloud the tank. Then use a cup to transfer/ carry sand to the tank bottom, pumps off.

Transporting sand into tank isn’t the worry I’m more concerned of an algae bloom or levels go sky rocket

 

[Pistondog]

Why add the packets of bacteria to an established tank?

 

[nightmarepl]

Why add the packets of bacteria to an established tank?

Not sure that’s what they said would help to avoid algae blooms i was thinking of just dosing prime for a few days

 

[Aspect]

Transporting sand into tank isn’t the worry I’m more concerned of an algae bloom or levels go sky rocket

I've added 200 pounds of sand to my tank, I used the 20 pound bags of Fiji pink from Caribsea. What I did was add a bag a week. Had no issues.

 

[Pistondog]

Not sure that’s what they said would help to avoid algae blooms i was thinking of just dosing prime for a few days

Does not sound necessary.

 

[nightmarepl]

Does not sound necessary.

Sounds good than I’ll add the sand little by little over a few days and should be fine

 

[Tired]

Beneficial bacteria will only help if you need more ammonia processed. So, don't add ammonia to your tank. Absolutely rinse that sand until the water runs clear, you don't want to re-add any gunk.

 

[nightmarepl]

I've added 200 pounds of sand to my tank, I used the 20 pound bags of Fiji pink from Caribsea. What I did was add a bag a week. Had no issues.

Did you rinse it?

 

[brandon429]

use a clear glass of water sitting on your counter as the test tell

add a handful of non rinsed sand, look what that does

then clean out the cup, add a handful of half rinsed sand to the new cup of water, do you want that look all over the tank?

then add a 100% rinsed in tap water sandbed sample, absolutely clean, to the test cup redo-that's the look everyone wants, snowglobe. it didn't cloud your test cup at all, it was totally rinsed.

it doesn't matter if that's a lot of work, avoiding the work won't change the outcome your test cup shows.

it doesn't matter what someone else says worked for them, it only matters what you select from the test cup options in your own home, as the sand you bought presents. with 100% rinsed sand, you can set it down into your tank in ziplock bags and pour out zero cloud sand, zero cloud always is better than some or massive cloud.

when people recommend non rinsing, they're omitting the fact some bags are heavily degraded into silt like pdxmonkeyboy's pic here, a new tank setup unrinsed:

you have a way to know exactly how your tank will turn out: a cup test

here was my cup test: this sand did not cloud my tank at all



after tap rinsing, do your final rinse in saltwater for each section of sand you cleaned out. do it exactly this way, don't customize the approach. it has to do with salinity control and with tap water evacuation to follow the rinse method in the right order. when you add in a highly rinsed and proofed bag of sand to the tank, you want it to be wet with saltwater not tap, but there isn't enough saltwater avail for you to pre rinse it with...that work step must be tap water.

 

[Aspect]

Did you rinse it?

No

 

[gbroadbridge]

Hey y’all so my tanks about 2 years old now I’ve been having phosphate issues which have caused major algae Dino cyano who knows what was at .92 phosphates now at .16 looks like it’s going away hopefully

while i was fighting it I’ve been siphoning it off the sand bed and picked up too much wanted to add 400lbs of sand back into the tank without causing a disaster what’s the best idea

i was told by my lfs using my tanks water to pour sand into a bucket then some water rinse it alittle and then it’s okay to add into the display but the sand has to be live sand with the little bacteria packets to add into the display with it?

Just add a small amount a day (maybe 5%) and gently mix it into the existing sand without stirring up too much.

I wouldn't simply dump on top of existing sand as it may smother some beneficial organisms.
I also would not add any additives over what you would normally use.