Would use reuse reef rocks and aragonite sand from a freshwater tank ?

Idech

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I’m converting my 75 gallons freshwater tank to saltwater and I have 75-100 lbs of Florida rocks mostly in there (fine for reefing) and 80 lbs of Caribsea special grade aragonite sand. I had an African set up, a little similar to saltwater.

Buying new rocks and sand would cost me 600$-700$ that I’d like to save for other equipment and I would also much rather reuse what I have.

I would take the rocks outside, clean them (I have to research what to use) and let them dry in the sun. Same with sand. Also it would be thoroughly cleaned, rinsed and dried in the sun before using.

Other good reason for doing this, it would save me the ugly diatoms phase that comes with this sand and/or rocks. It took 6 months to get rid of it and I am certain it would happen again if I got new sand and rocks for the saltwater tank (same sand and rocks also had a diatoms phase in my Fluval Evo 13.5 with saltwater).

Can I safely keep my rocks and sand ? Any tips on what to use to clean ?

Thank you !
 

vetteguy53081

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Rocks- Bleach, cold water rinse until you can no longer smell bleach then sun dry for 48-72 hours.

Sand - different bacteria culture and likely unusable and frankly not worth the Low expense to replace VS rock
 

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First to answer the actual question... I see no reason why either couldn't already be used as long as you rinse them thoroughly.

Now, I don't understand why you feel like new rocks and/or sand would cost you $600+. Generally, dead/dry rock is $2-$3 per pound. And you usually want (at least) one to one and a half pounds of rock per gallon. So this wouldn't be any more than $350. Even if you were to buy new sand you're not looking at more than $400.
 
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Idech

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Now, I don't understand why you feel like new rocks and/or sand would cost you $600+. Generally, dead/dry rock is $2-$3 per pound.

I’m in Canada. Rocks are 5$/lb and 2 bags of 40 lbs sand is 140$. (100$ x 5) + 140$ + taxes = 736$
 

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The short answer is yes. Just make sure to dry and rinse to remove the freshwater bacteria before placing in new SW to avoid ammonia spike.
 

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The short answer is yes. Just make sure to dry and rinse to remove the freshwater bacteria before placing in new SW to avoid ammonia spike.
Or don't...and use the ammonia created from the dying freshwater bacteria as the seed for the cycle?
Will Ferrell Lol GIF by NBA
 

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Could get the sand cheaper

 
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Could get the sand cheaper


Yes, probably, pool sand is 10$ for a huge bag. But I like aragonite, it has buffering properties.

That’s what I have right now so if I can reuse it, I will.
 
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Should be fine to reuse both as long as you never used copper in the cichlid tank.
Thank you. There has never been any medication whatsoever in the tank. Just Prime, food and fish.

Caribsea aragalive $30 per 20 pound bag.
I need 80 pounds. Anyways I’m not looking to buy, I’m hoping to reuse the one I have.
 
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I’ve tested the water in my cichlids tank for phosphates with the Salifert kit and it’s a little under 0.5 ppm.

I’ve tested my tap water and it’s 0. So all the phosphates are happening in the tank.

I’ve scrubbed and cleaned a 1-2 lb rock and 2 inches of sand that I rinsed clean and put in a bucket. I added saltwater, a power head and a heater.

I will do a first test for phosphate in 5-6 hours. If the levels are okay then, I will retest every week for a couple of weeks and if the levels stay in an acceptable range, then I’ll know it’s safe to use my sand and rocks.

If not, then I’ll have to decide if I do another test with just the rocks or just replace everything.

I’ll update here.
 
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I tested for phosphates again after 4 hours. The levels are still at 0.5 ppm.

The sand is definitely going in the trash and I’m now testing the rock without sand. Worse case, I’ll just keep it for my next potential freshwater tank.

I now have to decide which sand I want. I find CaribSea aragonite special grade a little too coarse so I’d like something different.

I’ll look for threads about it on the R2R.
 
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After 3 hours there seems to be no phosphates in the bucket of water with the rock.

I’ve added the salt and heater, to have the same base measure, and will be testing again tomorrow and the next few days.

There might be hope that I can reuse my rocks !
 

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After 3 hours there seems to be no phosphates in the bucket of water with the rock.

I’ve added the salt and heater, to have the same base measure, and will be testing again tomorrow and the next few days.

There might be hope that I can reuse my rocks !
Did you rinse the sand in tap water then DI? When I say rinse, I mean did you blast all the crud out?, completely?
 

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