Reusing sand?

[MantisShrimpMan]

To move my nano tank it ended up getting emptied and being left in a hundred degree car, safe to say the bacteria in my rock, sand, siporax and Seachem matrix is all completely dead.

I am currently trying to restart the tank. Should I opt for new sand or stick with the old? The great thing about my current sand is:
-it doesn’t cost me any more money
-never had diatoms or Dino’s

But I’m wondering if by reusing it I’ll dump nitrate and phosphate into the water from the dead bacteria colony.

 

[BanZI29]

you can try it, I suggest you rinse it out well with saltwater thou. since everything is dead anyway, it won't hurt.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I rinse used sand in tap water, over and over again until I see clear water and no cloudiness, and then a final rodi rinse. Its a PITA, it takes a few hours, but I rinse new sand anyway so no way out of rinsing

 

[vetteguy53081]

To move my nano tank it ended up getting emptied and being left in a hundred degree car, safe to say the bacteria in my rock, sand, siporax and Seachem matrix is all completely dead.

I am currently trying to restart the tank. Should I opt for new sand or stick with the old? The great thing about my current sand is:
-it doesn’t cost me any more money
-never had diatoms or Dino’s

But I’m wondering if by reusing it I’ll dump nitrate and phosphate into the water from the dead bacteria colony.

Not worth trying. For the price of a new bag- you know where it stands. You can rinse the sand well however and add bacteria but Monitor ammonia and no3 levels very closely for a few days

 

[MantisShrimpMan]

Not worth trying. For the price of a new bag- you know where it stands. You can rinse the sand well however and add bacteria but Monitor ammonia and no3 levels very closely for a few days

Are you saying it’s not worth trying to reuse or not worth trying to get new sand?

I just realized if I order proper live sand from a place life KP or Gulf Live Rock it could potentially introduce all sorts of critters into my aquarium that I don’t have any background knowledge in dealing with. At first, I had considered it largely tempting to get pods and stuff like that from live sand. But, I saw a report of aiptasia coming into a brand new system from the live sand, as well as the obvious, high chance of bristleworms. I don’t necessarily think bristleworms are BAD, but I’ve got a nano tank and do most of the Maintanence by hand instead of a Python siphon or anything like that, and the idea of wondering where a foot long bristleworm is doesn’t sound like fun in such a small tank. Also, Im a broke college student so having to spend 100 on sand instead of coral or even food for myself, doesn’t tempt me

 

[Tangs-A-Lot]

Nano tank = how many gallons ??
BRS has Caribsea special grade sand at $24 for 20 lbs.

You may be able to buy local at a Petco or LFS.

 

[MantisShrimpMan]

Nano tank = how many gallons ??
BRS has Caribsea special grade sand at $24 for 20 lbs.

You may be able to buy local at a Petco or LFS.

20 gallons, current sandbed is an inch or two, so about 25 pounds of sand

 

[vetteguy53081]

Are you saying it’s not worth trying to reuse or not worth trying to get new sand?

I just realized if I order proper live sand from a place life KP or Gulf Live Rock it could potentially introduce all sorts of critters into my aquarium that I don’t have any background knowledge in dealing with. At first, I had considered it largely tempting to get pods and stuff like that from live sand. But, I saw a report of aiptasia coming into a brand new system from the live sand, as well as the obvious, high chance of bristleworms. I don’t necessarily think bristleworms are BAD, but I’ve got a nano tank and do most of the Maintanence by hand instead of a Python siphon or anything like that, and the idea of wondering where a foot long bristleworm is doesn’t sound like fun in such a small tank. Also, Im a broke college student so having to spend 100 on sand instead of coral or even food for myself, doesn’t tempt me

I would not use the sand sitting in the heat with risk of dead bacteria and sediment, however you can give it a good rinse and attempt to use it along with addition of liquid bacteria such as Micro Bacter XLM. Best would be to start with new sand such as aragalive by Carib Sea

 

[jda]

You can totally rinse and reuse sand. You migth not want to. A bag for a nano is not too expensive so the effort and having the sand potentially bound with phosphate already might not be worth it.

The best way to rinse sand is to put it in a 5g bucket. Take a garden hose and put it on the bottom and move it around until it is nice and clean. Then tip it or let it drain all of the water out. This is way faster than any other method that I have ever used.

Please take the mindset that the aiptasia and things that you do not want are inevitable. Unless you have a coral QT, they are going to get into your tank, so you have to have critters to eat them or a plan anyway. Not getting something as beneficial as live sand or live rock for this reason is not very solid thinking, IMO.

 

[MantisShrimpMan]

You can totally rinse and reuse sand. You migth not want to. A bag for a nano is not too expensive so the effort and having the sand potentially bound with phosphate already might not be worth it.

The best way to rinse sand is to put it in a 5g bucket. Take a garden hose and put it on the bottom and move it around until it is nice and clean. Then tip it or let it drain all of the water out. This is way faster than any other method that I have ever used.

Please take the mindset that the aiptasia and things that you do not want are inevitable. Unless you have a coral QT, they are going to get into your tank, so you have to have critters to eat them or a plan anyway. Not getting something as beneficial as live sand or live rock for this reason is not very solid thinking, IMO.

I’m a biomedical engineering student with a bad case of ADHD- I overthink EVERYTHING. When I added Zoas to my tank the last time around, I nearly killed them because I used like 5 different rinses in the span of an hour. Point is- I’m more than capable of setting up a coral QT, and odds are my OCD will lead to me doing that anyways

 

[907_Reefer]

$25 for new sand is my vote - otherwise rinse rinse rinse and repeat.

 

[jda]

I’m a biomedical engineering student with a bad case of ADHD- I overthink EVERYTHING. When I added Zoas to my tank the last time around, I nearly killed them because I used like 5 different rinses in the span of an hour. Point is- I’m more than capable of setting up a coral QT, and odds are my OCD will lead to me doing that anyways

I have BS/MS in engineering, wrote an enormous amount of code that people use every day and also sold a company to a FANG type of larger company and let me tell you that your success in this hobby will increase as you let go and have nature do it's thing. Once you realize that you are not in control of anything, really, it will get easier... nature is better than you are and a bad plan is better than no plan if you are consumed by thinking too much. I might not have believed any of this when I was a student, so just toss this into the bin if you want.

Coral QT can be a great idea, but think of it as a way for the corals to get a head start without interference from other things instead of you being in control of any outcome, if that makes sense.

 

[MantisShrimpMan]

I have BS/MS in engineering, wrote an enormous amount of code that people use every day and also sold a company to a FANG type of larger company and let me tell you that your success in this hobby will increase as you let go and have nature do it's thing. Once you realize that you are not in control of anything, really, it will get easier... nature is better than you are and a bad plan is better than no plan if you are consumed by thinking too much. I might not have believed any of this when I was a student, so just toss this into the bin if you want.

Coral QT can be a great idea, but think of it as a way for the corals to get a head start without interference from other things instead of you being in control of any outcome, if that makes sense.

That’s awesome. Anyways, what you’re saying makes a lot of sense. With that said- my thinking is that the live sand comes in two categories, either bagged wet stuff like CaribAlive or the fresh stuff like ordering from a company that specializes in Gulf live rock (KP, Gulf Live rock, Live Rock N Reef To name a few). I’m forgetting which I used the first time around- whoever makes special grade pink I think- and it clouded up my water for like at least half a week, i didn’t know to rinse it at the time. I just tried rinsing a portion of my current sand to see how hard it was for myself. Admittedly it would suck if I had 100 lbs of sand to do but with only about 20-25 it doesn’t seem too bad. I already did about 40% of it and the rest I’ll do later tonight after class. Last time my tank was up and running, was to support a Calappa Flammea box crab that I found myself in the wild. I found it in NY, they’re native to FL/Caribbean- so it was quite literally a one in a billion chance of a gulf current tropical stray. He left my sandbed piping full of cracked shells. I fed him clams, mussels, and scallops (many of which I harvested myself!) and he also enjoyed eating my trochus snails. So, washing the sand is proving to have the added benefit of letting me take out the big shards by hand.

Even with live sand, my previous cycle took a little over a month. This time around I’m going to try starting with an empty slate of rock and sand, and maybe using a fish cycle, so a ton of Fritz and/or one and only along with a clownfish or something.

Side note, does anyone have any experience with shaving brush plants?

 

[jda]

Even if your rinse that old stuff, if it was left wet at all it will likely have some bacteria that survives.

You can also get a scoop of sand from a local to get you started. There are likely plenty of reefs in any part of NY that can spare a few ounces of sand.

I have only had shaving brush plants just waste away on me. Maybe ask in the algae forum?

 

[Reef.]

down to personal preference but 1-2 inches of sand is not required, unless you buy the real thing then most live sand is just dead sand with a little bottle bacteria added…I would rinse well then reuse, unless I was paying the water bill then I would just buy new sand as the hassle and cost of reusing would be not worth the effort.

 

[MantisShrimpMan]

@jda @KrisReef @907_Reefer @vetteguy53081 @Reef.

Small update. I reached out to BRS to see what they thought. I was told to leave the sand on baking sheets in the sun for several weeks. I asked if you could just bake it in a home oven as an alternative.

I’m already using tap water to rinse the sand to the point where it runs clear. Once I’m done with that, I plan on repeating the process with RODI. So is baking the sand (whether with sunlight or an Oven) really necessary? Doesn’t seem like the usual suggestion. I also have carbon and GFO media bags in my tank usually so I’m guessing that whatever I inevitably don’t clean out of the sand, will be handled by my filtration.

 

[brandon429]

no its not necessary and doesn't help. the sole action you needed was the ejection of anything that clouds within the sand/the tap water rinse. final rinse in RO or saltwater, re use. its how my nano got to 17 yrs old/by sandbed rip cleans while it was running.

the bacteria in a reef tank sandbed don't matter, it doesn't crash if you rinse/remove/go bare bottom etc because the rocks have enough bacteria in all cases. ejecting the waste and in your case the nutrient + bacterial complexes that clouded really bad when you started rinsing was what it took to make the sand safe for use again. I don't value what BRS has to say on sandbed matters, because they weren't able to remove their sandbed without crashing their tank. here is nine years straight of removing sandbeds without crashing tanks (tap rinses is what makes these work, you did well)

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...

www.reef2reef.com

the sole point of that entire thread/400 jobs or so/is how to reuse sand without killing the tank.

 

[brandon429]

we never added bottle bac in any of those jobs...because sandbed bacteria aren't required in reefing, so to pay to add some would be adding something that gets a neutral benefit. bare bottom systems thrive just fine, due to this rule.

 

[vetteguy53081]

@jda @KrisReef @907_Reefer @vetteguy53081 @Reef.

Small update. I reached out to BRS to see what they thought. I was told to leave the sand on baking sheets in the sun for several weeks. I asked if you could just bake it in a home oven as an alternative.

I’m already using tap water to rinse the sand to the point where it runs clear. Once I’m done with that, I plan on repeating the process with RODI. So is baking the sand (whether with sunlight or an Oven) really necessary? Doesn’t seem like the usual suggestion. I also have carbon and GFO media bags in my tank usually so I’m guessing that whatever I inevitably don’t clean out of the sand, will be handled by my filtration.

Sun drying is an old method and not necessary

 

[MantisShrimpMan]

no its not necessary and doesn't help. the sole action you needed was the ejection of anything that clouds within the sand/the tap water rinse. final rinse in RO or saltwater, re use. its how my nano got to 17 yrs old/by sandbed rip cleans while it was running.

the bacteria in a reef tank sandbed don't matter, it doesn't crash if you rinse/remove/go bare bottom etc because the rocks have enough bacteria in all cases. ejecting the waste and in your case the nutrient + bacterial complexes that clouded really bad when you started rinsing was what it took to make the sand safe for use again. I don't value what BRS has to say on sandbed matters, because they weren't able to remove their sandbed without crashing their tank. here is nine years straight of removing sandbeds without crashing tanks (tap rinses is what makes these work, you did well)

Thanks for the input. Im going to provide a a bit more background because I think it’ll help everyone understand where my head is at.

I’m from Ny but I go to college in St Louis. When I found that cool crab, I set up a tank ant school and cycled it while he was still living in a cage hanging off a dock back in NY waters. I set up the tank in early November and flew him back to st Louis after Thanksgiving holiday. Fast forward to the very end of May and I have to move back to New York for the summer. I brought the tank back with me, but unfortunately the crab only lasted a short period in NY, something about the move led to his death. Not entirely sure whether it was water chemistry, stress, etc.

Without him all I had left was some nassarius and trochus. Pair that with the fact that the only place my father would let me set the tank up was in the basement (he kept tanks as a young adult and destroyed an entire living room wall with salt creep) and the tank ended up going neglected for the rest of the summer.

Fast forward to the end of the summer, I go to move back to St Louis, and I’m ready to refocus on the tank. It’ll be back in my living room again where it’s not outta sight outta mind, and now that I don’t have to wonder whether this crab eats corals, I’m interested in trying my hand with SPS- so time to set the tank back up. Whereas I drove home with the crab still alive, my car was shipped with my tank still in it the second time around, and so for a period of two days, my tank was left dry in a 110 degree car. I had already gotten rid of the remaining CUC so there weren’t any deaths, but for the fact that being in a hot car drying out, I’m certain I lost my biological filtration. So, back to square one with a cycle.

In my first run with this tank I never graduated to monitoring phosphate. I mentioned I bought a zoa frag once- that was right before spring break, and my stupid crab knocked the frag over at some point during the week I was away and the Zoas melted with their polyps entirely buried in the sand under the frag plug. He didn’t even prove whether he ate corals, just that he was clumsy. All I kept was the crab and a fish or two so I only ever monitored nitrate and let my water changes account for the rest without measuring to make sure.

With this newfound emphasis on getting coral on this go around, I’m gonna pick up the Hanna colorimeters and I’m going to actually get the firsthand experience of charting chemical levels and dosing based off the current consumption levels of my corals. With that said, I have no idea where my phosphate levels were. They obviously weren’t off the charts considering my fish and inverts survived just fine, but for all I know they could have been significantly too high for most corals. And the last thing I want to do is set myself up for failure by putting a phosphate leaching time bomb in my tank.