Adding New Sand to Existing

[Mare100]

In an attempt to help control our nitrate issues....we are wanting to deepen our sand bed and add more LR to our 55 Gal. FOWLR (+ 2 softies).

We currently have about 1" - 1-1/2" sandbed and we want to increase it to about 3". Question....Can we add just "dead" aragonite or should we add live sand, since the tank is established already? Add slowly or all at once?

Also....our sump doesn't allow us a place to put Cheato in.......is there any way of putting it directly in the tank? I don't think any of the fish we have in there will eat it.

M

 

[Mare100]

Awwwwwwww...........c'mon guys....this should be an easy one! :rollface: Any takers??

M

 

[rhino509]

add more sand slowly whether it be live or dead.dont wanna throw off a balanced sytem too much.just my thoughts.

 

[bertoni]

I wouldn't add more sand without a special reason, but if you want to go that route, I'd suggest adding maybe 1/4 - 1/2" at a time, with a week or so between additions. That'll give time for any animals in the sand to move upward, and thus avoid a lot of dead animals and anaerobic decay.

 

[Mare100]

Thanks for the replies.

I wasn't really planning on adding more sand....but from what I've been reading....everybody is recommending a deep sand base to help with the nitrates. Like I said....there's no place in this darn sump to set up a refugium or anything.

M

 

[bertoni]

I don't think a 3" sand bed is likely to help much with nitrate reduction, personally, and you'd want to stock it fairly carefully, in addition. I go to 6" for my DSBs, although many people think 4" is enough to be at least somewhat useful.

 

[Mare100]

Wow.....that's deep. OK....I might have to rethink this a bit. I don't know if I want 6" of sand in there. I don't think we're stocked too bad. 55 Gal. - 1 Moon Wrasse, 1 clown, 1 Flame Hawk, 1 Snowflake Eel, 3 Turbo Snails, 1 big hermit crab. Maybe we'll look into a hang on refugium of some sort.

I AM going to have to use up this sand though. I bought 2 bags today........1 bag of Live sand for $60.00!!!!! And 1 bag of "dead" sand.

M