adding sand to new refugium

[danimal]

I want to add 20lbs. of live sand to my 30 gal. refugium. It's bio active live aragonite from Nature's Ocean. Can i just pour it in? It's in a 20lb sealed bag.

180 gal tank up and running for 4 months.

thanx

Dan

 

[ChrisRD]

I'd put it right in. Personally I'd use a piece of PVC pipe to get it in there to help keep clouding to a minimum.

Also, I wouldn't really count on any packaged product to be "live" until it's been in your system for a few months.

HTH

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah I tried that "live sand" that comes in a sealed bag once. Didn't do squat.

 

[hdtran]

I'd put it right in. Personally I'd use a piece of PVC pipe to get it in there to help keep clouding to a minimum.

How do you use PVC to add sand to keep clouding to a minimum? I occassionally remove & add substrate, and even when I rinse the #$@&* out of the aragonite, it clouds up for a long time!

Thanks!

 

[ChrisRD]

How do you use PVC to add sand to keep clouding to a minimum?

Pour the sand into the top of the pipe (might need a funnel) while holding the other end of the pipe on the bottom of the tank. Let the sand escape slowly by lifting the pipe off the bottom gradually.

With the really fine sands you're going to get a certain amount of clouding no matter what you do, but this helps keep it to a minimum.

HTH

 

[jdieck]

First of all. Live sand in a bag should be a) Wet when you get it and b) should not be washed c) must have a due date on it as the benefical bacteria will die overtime.
Note that this sand usually has all the necessary bacteria and helps to spped up but little or no critters (Amphipods or copeaopods, worms and such) but you will acquire them from your LR over some time.
Although as recommended, the PVC pipe trick works I have found out that pouring wet sand trough the pipe could be tricky. When adding wet sand I use Ziplock bags. Fill half 1 gal bag with the sand, close the top with your hang and lower it to the bottom of the tank. Slowly release the top so it fills with water and turn it around carefully to pour the sand as close to the bottom as you can. Of course do this with no water circulation. Whatever escapes from the bag will settle very quickly and you can turn your recirculation on. Very little or no cloudiness this way.

 

[ChrisRD]

I agree - for wet sand use a larger diameter pipe or the plastic bag method.