Adding sand to BB

[Dan1788]

Hi all, can I just add live sand to my bare bottom tank I have had a change of heart.
I was thinking of adding it in stages rather than all at once.

Thanks

 

[brandon429]

Add it

you must rinse the sand in tap water until it’s 100% clear

then final rinse ro, ready. Dont add unrinsed sand, easy job here. Add all at once, adding clean calcium carbonate grains to a tank already stacked in calcium carbonate rocks is no cycle risk, cycle risks come solely from detritus mud.

new sand won’t have that, it has only headache clouding silt. Rinse it out

adding in sections accomplishes nothing, unless your goal is to add unwashed sand in sections so the clouding can take a few days to possibly go away, or not, with each section. If you skip pre rinse I’m highly interested to see the outcome

 

[SPR1968]

Yes you can but you will probably need to turn all pumps off or you will have a sand storm and potential cloudiness

You could also add it using a PVC pipe and slowly pour it down the pipe to the bottom to help avoid to much cloudiness

 

[Garf]

Just make sure it’s rinsed well if it’s dead sand. I did this to a 6 x 2 x 2 many years ago without issue.

 

[Dan1788]

Even if its live as won't this affect the Natural Bacteria

 

[SPR1968]

Even if its live as won't this affect the Natural Bacteria

It will just create even more diversity within the system so you should be fine

 

[Dan1788]

No I mean you wouldn't rinse live sand surley

 

[brandon429]

You would.

follow advice or risk this

Add new sand without rinse

Hi guy, I just add new special grade sand without rinse. I added slowly 1/3 bag per day, but didn’t rinse. My tank seem cloudy, but I have skimmer and 2 filter socks. My tank has sps, lps and 9 fishes. Should I expect a mini cycle. I concern my coral and fish die tomorrow

www.reef2reef.com

your system doesn’t need sandbed bacteria that’s why it’s not dead now. Does a car need three steering wheels


10 days, still won't settle and clouds fully
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/cloudy-tank.576835/

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/bummer-could-use-some-help.558301/

if rinsing sand grains in tap water removes bacteria, we can all here toss out the home cleaners and don’t use soap anymore in the dishwasher, its tap only. No more soap in laundry, tap is the accepted sterilizer on web boards. No more shampoo either, tap water is the most powerful sterilizer because forums said so

 

[Garf]

Don’t buy live sand if your gonna wash it.

 

[brandon429]

Live bagged sand has no worms, crab, snails, and washing doesn’t sterilize anything

in the real world they require antibiotics to kill bac, but not on web boards, anything we type kills bac. It’s clear from the three links above that 200 more are available for pre rinsing admonishment, i don’t think that’s a factor in your assessment though so the three are sufficient for the choice.

OP:

the crowd wants you to add unrinsed sand, to protect bacteria, that you are not short on. Pls take pics when you do we have room for 201 examples of regret on our sand rinse thread. Simply do not click the links above titled exactly as you’ve titled, add the unrinsed sand, and take pics. I love groupthink on web boards it gives us never ending work jobs.

 

[SPR1968]

No I mean you wouldn't rinse live sand surley

I would just put it in as it is personally, it’s live sand, but if you prefer rinse it, but it needs to go in ‘slowly’ especially if you have livestock. Basically don’t just dump it in

 

[brandon429]

Last round of helpful warnings

do not click on these examples, add the unrinsed sand.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/so-i-didnt-rinse.592624/
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/sandbed-stirred-up.544852/#post-5723606

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/very-cloudy-water-after-sand-and-rock.559386/#post-5735864
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/question-about-vacuuming-sand-bed.616059/ https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/new-tank-milky-cloudy.616519/

 

[Garf]

I added live sand to my sump when cycling it, didn’t throw my extra cash down the drain and it cleared up within hours. When I added dead sand as previously noted, it also clouded for several hours. No biggy. Yep, there’s gonna be a few cases where a problem may or may not occur but you don’t hear of the thousands of cases where there was no problem at all.

 

[Dan1788]

I have a bag of dry sand so I may as well just rinse that well and add that to the tank will it send my nitrate through the roof?

 

[brandon429]

Nitrate is a function of protein degradation

so it won’t be in either sand rinsed, live or new. Adding rinsed caribsea live sand is inert, it causes nothing bad whatsoever. Simply pre rinse and add

none of the clouding links clicked above was dry sand, it was all live sand unrinsed I’m sure we’ve seen.

 

[Garf]

I have a bag of dry sand so I may as well just rinse that well and add that to the tank will it send my nitrate through the roof?

No, shouldn’t. There’s nothing in it to rot. It will help to process stuff in the water, over time though.

 

[lelandmarine]

Hi all, can I just add live sand to my bare bottom tank I have had a change of heart.
I was thinking of adding it in stages rather than all at once.

Thanks

How long has your tank been set up, does it have livestock?

 

[Dan1788]

Ye it's got a few corals and fish