adding sand

[kendo]

Hi, I was thinking about adding sand to my BB system and was wondering if it would affect my water chemistry, and if so how much (I will be adding the seaflor special grade agronite sand)
Thanks

 

[Henry Bowman]

It will help with the Alk and buffering of the tank. Mostly the pH will become more stable.

 

[GTR]

I've done the same thing in the past without any problems other than the cloudiness that takes some time to clear. Not much change if any as far as chemistry goes IMO. Surface area to volume is low.

It will take some time for the sandbed to become "live". You might have some algae issues on the surface until that happens.

SteveU

 

[kendo]

Thanks, Iwas asking because I read that when you add sand , it will change the alk initially. Is there any truth to this?
thanks

 

[agent007]

I went BB in my tank because I thought the sand was the source of my algae issues.
Turns out that was not the case. I do not like the BB look and want to add sand back.

Did you add your sand yet? Did you remove your fish first? I am also thinking about adding live sand instead of plain aragonite. Any pros or cons there. I am trying to avoid removing the live stock if I can.

 

[agent007]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

 

[sedor]

Just make sure you clean the sand as good as you can, and of course its always best to add slowly maybe over a couple days although I don't think this is totally necessary.

Best way to do it is to use a funnel and a piece of tubing. Just use the tube to place the sand exactly where you want and you should avoid a lot of cloudiness in the water. Of course this work better with dryer sand so if you can let everything dry after rinsing even better...if not (and I wouldn't have the patience either) it will still work. It will just be a little harder and you'll have to deal with sand stuck in the tube constantly.

 

[agent007]

Thanks for the tip sedor. I was thinking about adding live sand. That's wet and will be a pain to add I guess but I'll try to be patient :bigeyes:

 

[DC_40gallon]

When I added sand I found putting it in a ziplock bag in increments and then slowly put tank water in and sunk the bag. That contained the sand storm in the bag. Once I sunk it then I could dump it and the wet sand immediately settled vs getting stirred up.

I would add sand slowly. Do only portions at a time to allow what you put in to get activated by the existing sand.

Lots of people do it. Some even change the entire substrate too.

 

[thegrun]

The formula for how much sand you need is take the length of your tank in inches, multiply it by the width (front to back), multiply by the inches of sand you want and divide that number by 20 to get the required pounds of sand. ie: 24 x 24 x 2=1152/20=57.6 lbs.

 

[Emoney]

Clean the sand well before putting it in the tank!

 

[lordofthereef]

If you want to add sand, a good method is to get a fairly wide length of pvc (2"+ should work) and use it as sort of a funnel. Put one end to the bottom of the tank (you will move this around as you pour the sand) and the end that is out of water is where you pour the sand into. The new sand must be dry if you go on the thinner side of pvc as wet sand will clog more easily. You can do live sand in this manner too just pour really slowly as it tends to stick to the sides more. This will greatly reduce the silt that gets suspended in the water column.

 

[Jaguar]

Yup for the least cloudy water I'd go with what was previously said. It will least disturb the corals as well with less silt in the water coloum. Otherwise you'll end up with all sorts of cranky corals and sliming all over the place in the tank .

 

[lighthouze08]

When I added sand I found putting it in a ziplock bag in increments and then slowly put tank water in and sunk the bag. That contained the sand storm in the bag. Once I sunk it then I could dump it and the wet sand immediately settled vs getting stirred up.

I would add sand slowly. Do only portions at a time to allow what you put in to get activated by the existing sand.

Lots of people do it. Some even change the entire substrate too.

+1 that's wat i did, put sand in bags and let them out slowly

 

[Captain]

I had a post a few years back on sand cookies for adding sand to existing tank. You can use ice cube trays, plastic cups, about anything. I used metal pie pans. Depends on size of tank. Fill your containers with sand then add ro water level with top of sand. This is what freeks people out. Then place in freezer and freeze solid. Remove from freezer and slide into bottom of tank and let melt. As with all things do it slowly and you will add all the sand you want with ZERO cloud and no big temp swings. It works great.

 

[agent007]

Thanks for all the great tips. I'll be adding live sand so I'll go with either the
plastic baggy or frozen sand. It all depends on what the wife will let have from the kitchen :lol:

I'll probably do it late next week. Thanks again.

 

[agent007]

On second thought... I think if I freeze the live sand I'm going to loose some of the beneficial critters that live in the sand. I'll go with the baggy.:thumbsup:

 

[Think_Reef]

freezing the sand would kill the beneficial stuff