Live sand a rock

Aharst · May 13, 2021

I just bought a 20gallon tank online that was never fully set up. He has live sand a rock in it but never ran water. Do I need to get new sand or can I start setting it up?

Peace River · May 13, 2021

Welcome to Reef2Reef!!! I'm not sure what you mean by "never fully set up", but is the sand still in bags and was it exposed to extreme temperature? You may have some die-off, but that will likely be taken care of during the cycling process.

Fish Think Pink · May 13, 2021

Aharst said:
I just bought a 20gallon tank online that was never fully set up. He has live sand a rock in it but never ran water. Do I need to get new sand or can I start setting it up?

Welcome!

Glad you joined

I'd give that sand a couple rinses in tap water (just in case) until clear, then final rinse in RO water, then add sand to tank. No need to get new sand, you'd have to rinse it to remove excess silicates anyhow so IMO start where you are and use what you have. NOTE: the tap rinse may kill the 'live' aspect... but not rinsing may later feed diatoms... Fritz TurboStart 900 is another way to introduce cycle but google cycle start and enjoy the many opinions

Zach B · May 13, 2021

Welcome

Great advice above

Fred2482 · May 13, 2021

Welcome! Do you mean there was never water in the tank?

|Frank| · May 13, 2021

NashobaTek · May 13, 2021

Welcome to R2R!!

Azedenkae · May 13, 2021

Aharst said:
I just bought a 20gallon tank online that was never fully set up. He has live sand a rock in it but never ran water. Do I need to get new sand or can I start setting it up?

With this, I'd set everything up exactly as I would in any other case. Set it up, rock and sand as preferred, then fill up with water.

Any decomposition or whatever will just be handled by the cycle.

jtp7004ft · May 13, 2021

Welcome

Billldg · May 13, 2021

Welcome to R2R!!! Agree with above, how do you mean not fully set up? Was the sand wet?

CMMorgan · May 13, 2021

Even if it did not get wet, you can move forward. If it is old or removed from the bag ... the "live" bacteria may be dead. No big deal ... just treat the set up as if you had dry rock and sand. Rinse, rinse, rinse in RO .... add some bottled bacteria like Dr Tim's, etc. and wait out the cycle.
Good luck! Welcome to the salty family!!