The Southdown Sand bed is in!!

[King Jason]

Alright, I've updated my website with some new pictures of the sand bed (in Filtration section). I've also added some misc. pictures after we moved the tank inside. Unfortunately the pictures of us moving the tank didn't turn out .

My question:

I've heard tidbits of people saying things like the alk will rise because of the southdown. What effects is the southdown going to have on my tank during the first few days/weeks? So far I only have RO/DI water in the tank. It is going to take a while to fill it up. So far the tank is about 8" full. It's 25.5" high so it's going to take a while to fill. When I get home from work today I'm going to start mixing the salt in.

 

[Anonymous]

Get ready for cloudy water for a couple of weeks until the sand gets cycled.

I just went through this on my new tank and it took about 3 weeks. Now If I stirr the sand a little the tank does not get that cloudy.
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[O P Ing]

hi.
I wonder if the sand should be added after the saltwater is mixed??? What is your opinion on the order of things?

a, RO/DI, salt, then sand
b, sand, RO/DI, salt or RO/DI, sand, then salt
c, (bad) salt, the other two.

I usually do (a), but I am open to other suggestion if you give me the reasoning...

Oh, I do (a) because the sand will have a homogenious saltwater mix just like the layer above the sand, instead of salt water on top, and some pocket of air/freshwater under the sand.... does it matter? I don't know...

 

[King Jason]

You are probably right. I wanted to avoid a huge sandstorm when putting the sand in with water already in the tank. What I will probably have to do is stir up the sand anyways to get all the "pockets" of freshwater/air out of the sand.

 

[Jeff Hood]

Here is how I did my tank.

I placed the sand in the bottom. Got it all spread out like I wanted. I filled the tank ( 500 Gallons) with R/O DI water. Took 7 days.

The tank stayed completly clear. The sand stayed on the bottom. I started the pumps and it stayed clear. No leaks and everything looked great.

I started adding the salt to the sump slowly to bring the Specific gravity to 1.026.

The salt caused the sand to disolve and there was a resulting snow storm for a few days. Something about the salinity, alk, calcium that caused the sand to cloud the water. I think it still was not as bad as just dumping the sand into the tank full of water.

Jeff

 

[King Jason]

Jeff, that's almost exactly what I am doing. Put the 300 pounds of sand in. Moved it around and got it how I wanted it. Started adding RO/DI water. Today when I got home the tank was about 1/3 of the way full. I started mixing in salt and heating up the water. It is now a little cloudy and about 1/2 way full. I have a 100 g.p.d. RO/DI system and it's been about 1 day so I figure I've put about 100g of water in the tank. I plan on going to Jeff's this weekend and buying some live rock to start the cycle.

 

[O P Ing]

hi.
I usually use a smaller tank for cycling live rock. I do water change while the rock is cycling, so having a smaller tank just make the water change more effective. This is my preference.

Also, I added sand after the water is mixed, Add the wetted sand slowly, and the cloudiness will goes away about the same amount of time as the other methods mentioned above. I use a plastic tubing to drop the sand down to the bottom, but other method that I have seem is to use a huge ziploc bag, and open the bag near the bottom.

 

[piscies75]

I heard a fellow let the sand in salt water for a few weeks to develop bacteria when he added it , it behaved.

 

[LtSmash]

You could use a beer bong like devise that sends the sand straight to the bottom, almost no sand storms...worked for me =)

 

[tampavii]

Hi guy
Aftter reading these posted I messed up . I am setting up a 225 . Today I filled its will Ro/DI water. Then added salt. Then opened up sothdown sand but bags where frrozen so just placed them in the tank. Now the water is very very cloudy.
How long before I xan add live rock?
I have 200 lbs curing in tank .
ifew question.
At the present time I have my wet dry runniing and Flual 404 on the 225. I dont have my UV light on or my protein skimmer hooked up. i have my protein skimmer hooked to tank which live rock is curing in.

Would i be better off hooking up my protein skimmer to my 225 or leave it running in the live rock?
I have no lights on the tank .Do I need them at this point?
I was hoping to have rock in the 225 by super bowl sunday. Now I just hope the cloudy tank clears up by then .Any suggestion.
Should I add the 50 lbs of live sand now or wait until cloudy water is clear. HELP HELP My wife is pi((^ the way the living room looks

PS i also have my old 120 setup with my fish in it . Just waint for cycle in 225 to add fish .I guess will be few weeks.
Thanks in advance Capt gene

 

[Anonymous]

The new sand needs to cycle and get beneficial bacteria on it. Once this happens the sand will have enough weight to stay on the bottom.

I rinsed my sand a few times then placed in in the tank.
I then placed a bowl in the center of the tank and poured in the salt water slowly . My tank was cloudy for about 3 weeks.

I threw in 2 blocks of frozen shrimp (the little blocks you feed the fish with).

This started the cycle and the tank had finished cycling in 6 weeks exactly.

Now I can stir up the sand, it gets cloudy for a few minutes and it then settles.

Let it run its course. Cycle it and you will be fine. Cut down on your flow in the tank for the first couple of weeks. This is what I did.
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[Westfork]

I learned the way not to add Southdown to a new 120. Filled the tank first to watch for leaks for a few days. Poured the sand in - Of course all the fines were suspended in the water and settled out last leaving a 1/4 inch layer of dust on the surface. Later stirred most of this in but the worms don't seem to like to cross the dusty layer. After two weeks of feeding the tank the cloudiness went away. Am cycling the sand bed before adding the live rock.
Lloyd

 

[King Jason]

Here are some pictures of the tank now. It's full now, I'm now filling the sump. I've mixed about 180g worth of salt in and letting it dissolve over the next day or so.

 

[King Jason]

Another...

 

[King Jason]

The Maxijets and heater in there are just temporary. I will take them out once I get the sump filled and sump return pump started. Yesterday I started up the closed loop (AmpMaster 3000). No leaks (yet...) and very quite. However there is a pretty loud deep vibration noise, you can only hear it when you are around the tank though.

 

[Reef Guy11]

Hey Jason What are the PVC pipes in the middle of the tank for. Just wondering. Tank Is looking Good I can't wait to do my 140 I shopping around for a go price on a Custom Built tank.

 

[King Jason]

They will be used to support the Aquascaping. It makes it easier to create large caves and structures that go against gravity.

 

[Reef Guy11]

So Your going to zip tie the LR to them. I am Going to Use Acrylic Rod's Running length wise and then drill hole in the LR so i can zip tie them together.

 

[King Jason]

I'm going to use a combination of a few things.

1. Drill 3/4 holes into the rocks, then slip them onto the pvc (the PVC isn't glued so it comes apart).

2. Use an aquastick or plumbers epoxy to glue the rocks onto the base rocks that are slipped onto the PVC.

3. Use zip ties where I feel there is a lot of stress and the rock may break apart where the aquastick or epoxy is.

 

[tampavii]

Jason
tank looks good .i just got my Ampmaster 3000 did you get the pad that goes under the mounting bracket.
I dont even want to think that I am going to have to wait 3 weeks for it to clear.
today i added 20 lbs of live sand . Should I added few pieces of live rock into tank to help start cycle.
I have my 110 sold to this guy he has been waiting for 2 weeks. I have all my livestock in that tank. this guy is going to be alittle upset if he has to wait 4 more weeks .But that how this hobby is. Going fast alway cost you more in the end.
GB