All you EVER wanted to know about Southdown

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Wow, this is an old thread!

I just placed some Southdown into my 450 (yes, I had been sitting on this stuff for a few years) I cannot believe the ongoing "duststorm". I have a layer of what I would call silt in my sump, it looks the same as say, drywall compound dust. I have been running 100 micron filter socks to try and clean this up. Will it ever end? what has been your experience with this sand?
 
aaaaahhhhh the good old days of cloudy tank syndrome, not wanting to move a thing because it would cause a dust storm. Waiting, and waiting, and waiting for it to pass, then one day, it was gone, and life was great again. AHHHHHH the good old days

revclyburn
 
The real secret to having it settle down is flocculation. That is, when bacteria coat the sand and extrude a sticky glue. This causes the sand particles to stick together and weighs them down.

Adding some LR or true LS will help in this respect as it provides the bacteria cultures that will colonize the sand. Even so it takes a week or two, at least, before the sand develops a coating. Although a filter can clear the water until the sand develops a living skin almost any movement will cause a sandstorm.

You really want the fines in the bed as they are important in bed movement. That is why it is better to wait out the cloudy period than to wash the sand before use.

BTW--Hey Vet, how be you?
 
I just moved my 120 pounds of south down to my new home and it is sitting in two trash cans from my old tank.

I plan on re-using it as is. I am sure it will cause a cycle to start from stearing it from the move. But, it is worth not having to pay a ton for new sand.

It smelled OK, so I am hopeful that it will be fine after time.

Any thoughts?
 
I see no problem in the move. There will be some die-off as the temperature may fluctuate. Heat some SW, just enough to cover the bed in the trash cans, to the display tanks pending temperature. Dump the transport water and use the SW you heated to the proper temp to fill the trash cans. After about two days check ammonia and nitrite levels. If they are OK then the sand is ready for the display tank.

If the readings show ammonia or nitrite then again dump the water and replace with some freshly made SW. Give it a couple more days and then check it again for ANN (Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate).
 
Shawn,

Have them dump a truckload at your house. There are tons of Ohio reefers that will stop by to pick some up.

:D
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10024835#post10024835 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by WaterKeeper
The real secret to having it settle down is flocculation.
Click to expand...

Now you're just making words up. :)

flocculation eh? I need to remember that..I knew that it happened, just didn't know what it was called.

And for you folks that skimmed like mad or ran filter socks or changed water...I did nothing. I just waited for everything to flocculate. :) I did have to hit the LR with a turkey baste every day or so to keep the settled flocculent off! It's all about patience when it comes to reef systems.

--Fizz

..man..even the RC spellchecker knew that word. :)
 
My science teacher once told me that he flocculated in his wine to get rid of the sediment, and I swore I would never drink his wine...Dirty old man!!!!


I lived in MD and drove 2.5 hrs to a guy in DE who was selling his last 3 bags of Southdown. I paid 50 for those bags and only used 2 and held onto 1. Its been 3 yrs and I FINALLY got to use that bag when I set up my 20! And it was sooo worth it! That white sand makes everything look better!
 
Tanks alot, guys. My tank is crystal clear. I will be adding more LR on Thursday, and will scoop out some sand from my exsisting tank which has worms, pods, small starfish, and of course bacteria. Click on my red house for pictures of the build... yes its very outdated, I will update by the weekend. Tanks again :D
 
A quick science lesson--Hold it! I see you heading for the door!;)

We have two things that go on in our tanks that cause solid particles to increase in size and weight. The first is coagulation a process in which the surface charge on a fine colloidal particle is altered and the particles no longer repel each other but are attracted to each other. A salt like alum, aluminum sulfate, is a coagulating agent.

Flocculation is where bridging occurs between particles. In our tanks bacteria secrete long chain polysaccharides that stick together. This is a form of flocculation. In water treatment polymers are often used for a similar purpose. Flocculation is mainly physical while coagulation is more chemical in nature.

So endth the lesson--time for recess. :D
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10043100#post10043100 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by WaterKeeper
A quick science lesson--Hold it! I see you heading for the door!;)

We have two things that go on in our tanks that cause solid particles to increase in size and weight. The first is coagulation a process in which the surface charge on a fine colloidal particle is altered and the particles no longer repel each other but are attracted to each other. A salt like alum, aluminum sulfate, is a coagulating agent.

Flocculation is where bridging occurs between particles. In our tanks bacteria secrete long chain polysaccharides that stick together. This is a form of flocculation. In water treatment polymers are often used for a similar purpose. Flocculation is mainly physical while coagulation is more chemical in nature.

So endth the lesson--time for recess. :D
Click to expand...

...and now you're just showing off. :)
 
I'm a newbee and I've just started my first "real" aquarium after about 10yrs FW. I purchased about 125lbs. of LR and 100lbs. LS which i was told was Southdown from an established aquarium. (I havent done the vinigar test yet because I'm a batchlor and need to go the grocrie store and purchase vinigar which i will this week anyways.....) My tank cycled quickly (I think) but the dust storm this created freaked me out however after reading much of this thread (incrediblely long thread) i relaxed a bit however I still have one concer.

the dust storm really covered the LR and I sprayed much of it off with a submersible pump however after having the aquarium run for about a month (after the dust storm settled) I shook one of the rocks and sooo much stuff came out of it that it clouded up the tank again. It did settle quite quickly however I was wondering if i just need to spray off the sand that settled on the out side or since the rock is so porous does each one need to be throughly rinced in established aquarium watter (I'm worried my LR is too cloged) sorry if this is a stupid question but I'm just a newbee and want to make sure my live rock will provide the benifit it's supposed to. If this dust storm cloged it too much.

Thanks I see nobody posted here for a few months however since this thread has gone on for Years!!! I hope somebody will be by soon

Thanks
 
No

don't take out the rock and rinse it. Give the sand time to go through it's changes too. It will settle down in a couple of week or so. The sand also needs to cycle, sort of. Once it settles, and doesn't cloud up the tanks so much, you can just use a powerhead to blow it off the rock.

Plus if the rock wasn't cured, it needs to cure too, hence the extra stuff falling off it. Give your tank another month and things should be pretty good.

revclyburn
 
Thanks rev

I just want to point out a couple of stupid things i've done with the LR during transport and point out that the sand has settled and see if youre opinion is still the same:

The rock and sand came out of a well established aquarium and had been in there for about 4yrs. It was removed from that aquarium and put directly into buckets (and covered with sand)with water from that aquarium and then put into my aquarium a few hours later along with about 40 gallons of water from that aquarium. (my aquarium is only 75gal.)

The dust has been settled for about a month now and is not a problem any more(flocculation??? looks like flatulence O.K. im being childish now. anyways.....). Even if i stur up the sand it settles quite quickly so i don't believe this is a problem. However, some of the rock was in tubs with the sand (and covered by the sand) when I moved it and this caused the sand to get well into the crevices of the LR.

I have sprayed most of the sand off that is on the out side of the rock and since the sand is not a problem anymore it does not seem to be covering the outside of the rock again. I am concerned about he sand that may be cloging the inside of the rock. It was transported with the sand and really got into the rock.

I set up my 75gal. aquarium, w/ 125lbs. LR, 100lbs. LS, Remora Skimmer, external power filter (temporarly), and two fluval submersable filters (temporarly) and a power head. (I know there are some issues that need to be addressed here and i'm working on it but that's another topic)

anyways..

Once i set everything up i put in two larg shrimp from my freezer to cycle the tank and about 2 weeks latter purchased a basic test kit (amonia, nitrate, nitrite) all levels were zero (PH is good too). so i believe it cycled quickly. I've only got a couple of damsels in there now untill i feel it is more established and make a couple of changes to my set up. (and figure out what i'm doing)

So my question:

Do you feel even thought the rock was transported with the sand and some of the rock was fully covered in a bed of sand during transport and sand is deffenatly well into the crevices of the rock and the sand has settled and future sand storms do not seem to be a problem. Should I do anything about all the sand inside of the LR? and if so what should I do?

I'm not really worried about the work of taking the rock out (actually i planned on just shaking a couple out in the aquarium at a time and moving them to the other side. even know it clouds it up it clears quite quickly (less than an hour) and I'm not worried about the additional time it may take to "recycle" I'm not in a hurry. I don't even really know what i want in my aquarium yet. (And it will make catching those damd damsels to take back to my LFS so much easier) ( I don't know what to put in my aquarium yet but I do know i don't want them in there). with so much LR is an aquarium of this size it's gonna be a challenge(but that's a problem I can solve with time and traps) I don't mind the work or even another dust storm i have to wait out or even the time to "recycle". I'm only concerned about making sure my live rock is working as it should and make sure i've got a solid foundation and since LR from what i understand is a huge part of that foundation this is my biggest concern at the moment.

I know i'm long winded I just want to make sure i'm including all relevent factors.

Thanks again
 
Hey Dan19955

i don't mind trying to help out. Your live rock will be ok, with the sand or without it. It will not have a major affect on it at all, IMO. If it's a cosmetic issue for you then take it out and rinse it in s/w when you rearrange your tank. Other than that, just leave it alone and enjoy your tank.

rev
 
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