carib sea arag-alive sand

[hitawaah]

I have 10 20lbs. bags of CaribSea Arag-Alive, live aragonite reef sand. Here is the situation I bought them for a 180 gallon setup, soon after buying them I decided to upgrade to a 300 gallon reef tank. So first on the bag it says good till December 2017. I bought them about 10 months ago they have been sitting in a controlled environment in my computer room packed in the original boxes from MD online. I am getting very close to putting water in my tank finally. My question is should I just rinse this supposed live sand put it over my egg crate and add some live sand from local lfs or should I just use it as is? I can see that there is still seawater in the bag but I just don't want a problem with the sand after everything I have done for my pukani dry rock. Any advice is welcome please.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Just use as is. Rinsing it will kill off the nitrifying bacteria in the sand.

 

[hitawaah]

Just use as is. Rinsing it will kill off the nitrifying bacteria in the sand.

Ok but you don't think that that the sand setting in a box for that long, almost a year actually, would kill any bacteria or living organisms rendering the sand dead or at least have a lot of dead organisms and bacteria in it? I know the bag says it's good for another 14 months but that can just be a number that the company uses as a really rough guideline. I want the live sand bed what I don't want is an explosion og algae due to all the possible dead stuff in the sand. I have never had sand (I've only had FO and FOWLR) this is my first reef and I had a bare bottoms on all my tanks to keep any detritus off and to clean easily. Thanks for your input!

 

[mandarin_goby]

I'd use as is also, no worries.

 

[ssick92]

Ok but you don't think that that the sand setting in a box for that long, almost a year actually, would kill any bacteria or living organisms rendering the sand dead or at least have a lot of dead organisms and bacteria in it? I know the bag says it's good for another 14 months but that can just be a number that the company uses as a really rough guideline. I want the live sand bed what I don't want is an explosion og algae due to all the possible dead stuff in the sand. I have never had sand (I've only had FO and FOWLR) this is my first reef and I had a bare bottoms on all my tanks to keep any detritus off and to clean easily. Thanks for your input!

Some of it is probably still alive, some of it probably died. The portion that died will just help to kick off your cycle. If it were me, I wouldn't hesitate to just put it in the tank.

However, many people do rinse their sand to get out all of the ultra fine particles that will end up getting caught up in the water column, but I have always skipped this step and haven't had any issues in any of my 3 tanks.

 

[hitawaah]

Some of it is probably still alive, some of it probably died. The portion that died will just help to kick off your cycle. If it were me, I wouldn't hesitate to just put it in the tank.

However, many people do rinse their sand to get out all of the ultra fine particles that will end up getting caught up in the water column, but I have always skipped this step and haven't had any issues in any of my 3 tanks.

OK then, I didn't think that the living things stuck in that bag for so long at my house plus however long before I got it would still be alive. You also make a good point, if it has dead stuff that'll help kick off my cycle. I'm gonna use the pvc method of getting to the bottom on the egg crate without to much issues of it just going everywhere.
I have another question (I'm pretty sure I know the answer I just want other peoples opinion) I've got roughly 400lbs. of dry rock pukani and marco. I've bleached, acid washed the pukani and have had it in a brute tub with a 10 micron filter dosing phosfree for almost 2 months. My phospaye are reading nill on my hanna tester. Should I add the sand at the same time I add the dry rock which I am going to seed with some really nice live rock from a trustworthy lfs? If I don't put them in together wont that make my tank cycle twice or at least I'll have big spike in ammonia and nitrites? followed by algae problems. Thanks for the input and any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[ssick92]

You will want to put your rock in first, then put in your sand around the rock. That way you don't run the risk of any of your critters undermining your rock formation and toppling your rocks.

And yes, you want to cycle your sand and rock together because most of the nitrifying bacteria will make a home in your rock.

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[hitawaah]

You will want to put your rock in first, then put in your sand around the rock. That way you don't run the risk of any of your critters undermining your rock formation and toppling your rocks.

And yes, you want to cycle your sand and rock together because most of the nitrifying bacteria will make a home in your rock.

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Thanks for that answer I was thinking that but just wanted the confirmation. I appreciate your input and advice.