Adding sand to 40breeder...

[kristofferzen]

I have a 40 breeder, mixed with fish and corals. I also have a 11 gallon sump. My sand bed is reeflakes sand about 50 lbs. I was wondering how I could go about adding sand without causing my phosphates/silicates/etc to skyrocket…or to not cause a die off of bacteria from the existing sand. Any suggestions? I wanted to add about 30 more lbs of sand a deeper sand bed.

Thanks!

 

[oscarinw]

Use dry sand. Rinse it profusely in RO water until the water runs clear. Then shoot it via pvc directly to the bottom of the tank on top of the existing layer. Do not add more than 1/2 inch at a time. Give it a week between additions so the creatures have time to colonize the newly added top layer.