Question about adding sand to established tank.

[PhoenixOne]

I've had to vacuum the top layer of my sand to siphon out cyano and over time, I lost quite a bit and I am looking to replace it. I read that adding live sand (comes wet in a bag) will cause a mini cycle and and I also read that it won't because the amount of bacteria in one bag is minimal. Will I be safe adding one bag of live sand?

 

[jcolon2]

That live sand in the bag is crap. imo

 

[guarda]

You didn't say how big your tank is but I put in 2 cups of new, dry sand every water change (weekend) in my 20 gallon until I used up my 5lb bag with no cycle or visible param changes. IMO you'd be wasting your money with live sand. I added slowly to be safe.

 

[jerl77]

1+++++

you didn't say how big your tank is but i put in 2 cups of new, dry sand every water change (weekend) in my 20 gallon until i used up my 5lb bag with no cycle or visible param changes. Imo you'd be wasting your money with live sand. I added slowly to be safe.

 

[PhoenixOne]

Sorry about the lack of info. It's a 90 gallon. Great. I will buy a bag of dry and I'm sure I only need about half of that. Thanks for the help.

 

[rudy16189]

The only live sand i trust if i get it fresh from ocean ...out of it just regular clean dead sand

 

[Imbarrie]

You take ocean sand and put that in your tank?
Are you aware of the unknowns you are dealing with?

I would only recommend this approach with a locally stocked tank.

 

[adamt]

just be careful to spread it out when you add the new sand. If you dump it in one spot it can foul the sand underneath it and cause a nitrite/ammonia spike.

Since you were asking how to add live sand and not "is live sand good?", Id say take the bag of live sand and pour some into a bowl then lower the bowl to the bottom of the tank and slowly pour it out avoiding covering any area too much. If you keep your sand bed really clean and have a good skimmer you can agitate the sand bed after you add the new sand to mix it up and avoid dead spots from occuring If you have a lot of delicate corals or you know your sand is kinda gunky I wouldnt stir it up, but the lfs by me used to take a bag cut open a corner, submerge the whole bag and then cut the bottom so it just spilled out. It clouded up the tank for a few hours but by the next day the skimmer had taken care of it.

gl!!

 

[guarda]

+1 above. I stuck a long 2" diameter pvc pipe straight to the bottom, vertically and poured the sand in. Then I slowly lifted the pipe off the floor of the tank and let the sand come out. No cloudiness whatsoever.

 

[PhoenixOne]

Since you were asking how to add live sand and not "is live sand good?", Id say take the bag of live sand and pour some into a bowl then lower the bowl to the bottom of the tank and slowly pour it out avoiding covering any area too much. If you keep your sand bed really clean and have a good skimmer you can agitate the sand bed after you add the new sand to mix it up and avoid dead spots from occuring If you have a lot of delicate corals or you know your sand is kinda gunky I wouldnt stir it up, but the lfs by me used to take a bag cut open a corner, submerge the whole bag and then cut the bottom so it just spilled out. It clouded up the tank for a few hours but by the next day the skimmer had taken care of it.

gl!!

Well, I didn 't ask how to add live sand but I still do appreciate the advice. I use the pvc pipe method. Let me tell you, it was not easy because I rinsed the sand first so the sand was wet and clumpy. I took a empty poland spring bottle, cut the bottom out and duct taped the spout onto the end of the pcv pipe. It still wasn't easy getting that clumped sand into there but it worked. If it got stuck in the pipe, I just took a cup of tank water and poured to clear it. So I am under the impression that some of you don't rinse dry sand?

 

[guarda]

I just threw it in. Got some floating sandballs that I popped. The grains sank right away. Which sand did you use?

 

[PhoenixOne]

I just threw it in. Got some floating sandballs that I popped. The grains sank right away. Which sand did you use?

Natures Ocean Samoa Pink Sand #1.