Reusing sand?

[MantisShrimpMan]

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.

So, my current objective is to ensure that I’m not leaving myself with excess waste in the sandbed amidst trying to cycle the tank again. So; the sand never had any issues that I observed, the tank wasn’t shut down because of any issue, but it still had to have had a large portion of organisms living in it, as should be the case in a tank, and all I’m looking to do is get rid of their decaying matter. Granted, anaerobic bacteria is tough as nails, but I’m sure some of it had to have died via drying out in a baking car.

 

[KrisReef]

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.

Let the sand soak in fresh water for a few days to loosen up anything that dried on/in it during the two day auto-baking exercise. Then rinse as was suggested and restart the tank. When you get the Hanna meters, take a sample of the tank water and check for phosphates. If they are screaming high (baked on phosphate leeching) then use some lanthanum chloride to precipitate the phosphate out of solution and the phosphate pollution problem will be solved.
Rinsing the sand first will probably remove the phosphate, but if it's still there it can be dealt with before you get corals. HTH.

 

[Jedi1199]

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.

So just exactly how long has this tank been empty? I have proven that rocks and sand can take a HUGE amount of abuse and STILL skip-cycle.

If it has only been a few days, I would bet that the rocks will still skip cycle the tank.. a couple weeks or more... well.... ???

Do you have any friends that have tanks? If so, a baseball sized chunk of rock from their tank will skip cycle yours. Even a bucket of water with a squeezed out sponge from a sump will give you all the bacteria you need. Don't waste money on bottled bac if you don't have to.

 

[MantisShrimpMan]

So just exactly how long has this tank been empty? I have proven that rocks and sand can take a HUGE amount of abuse and STILL skip-cycle.

If it has only been a few days, I would bet that the rocks will still skip cycle the tank.. a couple weeks or more... well.... ???

Do you have any friends that have tanks? If so, a baseball sized chunk of rock from their tank will skip cycle yours. Even a bucket of water with a squeezed out sponge from a sump will give you all the bacteria you need. Don't waste money on bottled bac if you don't have to.

It went untouched by me (so salinity rose because of evaporation) for three months, but only truly was empty for about 2 weeks

 

[Jedi1199]

It went untouched by me (so salinity rose because of evaporation) for three months, but only truly was empty for about 2 weeks

Based on that, I would say it's safe to assume that you have lost your biological filtration. Wash the sand completely as mentioned before. As a student, I assume your budget is tight. $20 on sand or 40 packs of ramen.. lol

As I said, if you know anyone with a running tank, a chunk of rock is a good trade. Even a used filter sock will do the job. Bottled bacteria is easy, and expensive and totally unnecessary.

 

[Jedi1199]

Check online for a local reefing club in your area. I would bet you a donut you will find at least one in St. Louis. That will be your best option for both, getting seeding material AND coral frags to get you rolling again.

 

[jda]

PLEASE do not rely on BRS for much. Their advice and their videos are to sell products and they are often full of self-serving shill and misinformation.

Whatever you do, it will end up OK. You can rinse it, bake it in the sun, get new, etc and it will all turn out OK. I would just rinse the sand, but you can do it any other way. Don't believe anybody who tells you that there is a right or wrong way to this.

 

[MantisShrimpMan]

Based on that, I would say it's safe to assume that you have lost your biological filtration. Wash the sand completely as mentioned before. As a student, I assume your budget is tight. $20 on sand or 40 packs of ramen.. lol

As I said, if you know anyone with a running tank, a chunk of rock is a good trade. Even a used filter sock will do the job. Bottled bacteria is easy, and expensive and totally unnecessary.

THIS GUY GETS IT!