Daniel92481
Valuable Member
Adding sand to existing reef aquarium…live or dry? Rinse or no rinse? What is the procedure to keep your tank happy and healthy?
Adding sand to existing reef aquarium…
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Daniel92481
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Will the added live sand with no rinse cause a mini cycle?
do this test
take a clear glass of water
and a handful of your live sand, unrinsed, out of the bag
start a video of the cup, add the unrinsed sand, post that video for us to see if non rinsed sand looks awesome
imagine that cup being your entire reef tank
posted by pdxmonkey, unrinsed caribsea live sand (live in what way?):
in the sand rinse thread, we like when people listen to the common rule regarding sand rinsing. it gets us more cleanup jobs. all the entrants would have been better off not following the common rule, there'd be nothing to clean up. the only sand you don't pre rinse to cloudlessness is TBS oceanic live sand, which nobody here is using that I've seen in four years.
take a clear glass of water
and a handful of your live sand, unrinsed, out of the bag
start a video of the cup, add the unrinsed sand, post that video for us to see if non rinsed sand looks awesome
imagine that cup being your entire reef tank
posted by pdxmonkey, unrinsed caribsea live sand (live in what way?):
in the sand rinse thread, we like when people listen to the common rule regarding sand rinsing. it gets us more cleanup jobs. all the entrants would have been better off not following the common rule, there'd be nothing to clean up. the only sand you don't pre rinse to cloudlessness is TBS oceanic live sand, which nobody here is using that I've seen in four years.
I would never put un rinsed sand in any tank much less an up and running system. I made that mistake years ago in a 180. Even once it settled and the tank looked great every time my dragon wrasse would enter or exit the sand it was a mess.
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Rinse.
Get a funnel. Cut it to the size of 2 foot section of PVC pipe.
Place pipe on bottom.
Slowly add sand to pipe using funnel.
You can now slowly move the pioe off of the bottom and put the sand wherever you want.
That's how I've done it many many times.
Makes hardly any mess.
Make sure flow is off.
Get a funnel. Cut it to the size of 2 foot section of PVC pipe.
Place pipe on bottom.
Slowly add sand to pipe using funnel.
You can now slowly move the pioe off of the bottom and put the sand wherever you want.
That's how I've done it many many times.
Makes hardly any mess.
Make sure flow is off.
agreed you just pre rinse it until it acts like snowglobe grains, position them anywhere. we would use tap water, because there's not enough ro in ten make sessions to pre rinse multiple bags of that stuff, it's nearly opaque.
tap water first, final rinse in RO water, then use it for the complete win. this is all sand, new and used, excluding TBS oceanic live sand which nobody is using on the entire board / or at least anyone posting in here.
tap water first, final rinse in RO water, then use it for the complete win. this is all sand, new and used, excluding TBS oceanic live sand which nobody is using on the entire board / or at least anyone posting in here.
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Daniel92481
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Looks like I will be rinsing the new live sand with RO or maybe some old seawater. I’m looking to change my minimal amount of Hawaii black sand to a more traditional color and granule size. Thanks reefers for your input here.
why not use tap water
ro is costly, limited, and doesn't do anything special for you
seawater has to be lugged or pumped. only tap is smart for the pre rinse, because you can run it as long as it takes to be truly clean.
ro is costly, limited, and doesn't do anything special for you
seawater has to be lugged or pumped. only tap is smart for the pre rinse, because you can run it as long as it takes to be truly clean.
Troylee
all about the diy!!!!!
I always use special grade and rinse with tap water only if it’s old sand… new sand fresh out of a bag I just dump in and throw some floss in the sump baffles over night and it’s good the next day..
Mr. Roboto
Active Member
I would not add anything that said "live" on it unless I pulled it out of an existing tank myself.
Buy a new bag of sand, rinse it well, rinse again, and then rinse it again. Get you a funnel and a stick of PVC and then feed the sand to the bottom of the tank through this PVC tube and the funnel. I would not add it all at once. little at a time over a few days.
Buy a new bag of sand, rinse it well, rinse again, and then rinse it again. Get you a funnel and a stick of PVC and then feed the sand to the bottom of the tank through this PVC tube and the funnel. I would not add it all at once. little at a time over a few days.
I've added sand, aragonite & dolomite. I rinse numerous times until the water is almost clear. I then add salt water to whichever I'm adding and pour it into the tank using a glass measuring cup. I also turn off all the pumps & powerheads so nothing gets blown around. Can't honestly say that I've had any type of cycle as a result.
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mdanchqst
New Member
I get what people are saying about not wanting to add unrinsed sand to an up and running system, but if you rinse live sand, you take all the good out of it.
And if you add sand from an existing tank to another tank, be ready for a crash. That.is.bad.advice.
And if you add sand from an existing tank to another tank, be ready for a crash. That.is.bad.advice.
Mr. Roboto
Active Member
Nothing in the "live" bags are live. Not unless you get them a couple days after bagging. Live sand is a great way to start a cycle though because it's going to have all the nitrites and ammonia you will need.
Rinsed sand is a much better alternative than anything with "live" on the bag. People replace their sand beds regularly by pulling out the old, putting in rinsed then rinsing out the stuff they pull, rinsing and letting it dry all the time with almost no side effects.
I added fully rinsed standard aragonite sand to my very live Tampa bay saltwater sand and all I got was a diatom bloom. Was worried about dinos rushing in to populate the new sand but I think if your sand bed is very established (1-2+ years) you’ll be fine. No one seems to be asking for details about your system before giving advice which I think matters a fair bit here.
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Daniel92481
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Thanks for the info. My tank is a little over a year old and is a 4.1 gallon pico.
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