Is the sand fouled

[iggyman1971]

Picking up a 65 gallon this weekend. The owner thats selling the tank also has the box of southdown its about 60lbs worth he pulled from the tank over a month ago (wet bagged in a styro box) heââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s throwing that in.
My question is could I use it if I let it cycle in a big rubbermaid can with some good live sand from other tank, strip lighting, water changes and current or would the sand be fouled at this point and not be any good? I havnââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t seen the sand so I canââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t say what it looks like or smells like.

 

[Airman]

The sand will be fine. Your new tank will need to cycle anyway.

 

[Craig Lambert]

The only way it could be used is if it were rinsed (over and over again) to remove all of the dead micro organisms in it. I think that would be difficult with Southdown. If it were me, I'd dump it and start with new sand. It isn't very expensive.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=749356&highlight=use+sand+rinse

 

[iggyman1971]

I'm still up in the air over this.

I'd planned on cleaning it well an holding it in a rubbermaid can with some big pieces of base rock (40lbs), 1 or 2 cups of live sand, current, strip N.O. 50/50 lights and frequent water changes for about 4 weeks. Then I was going to introduce about 5lbs of really nice live sand from my current tank along with several medium size pieces of live rock (10lbs) for another month. Also planned on throwing in some supplements... Bottled liquid Calcium, Strontium & Magesium (These would be dosed every week from the start). hitting it with a decent amount of Phyto the last few weeks of the second month.

opinions?

 

[Airman]

Rise it like Craig says and use it. From what I hear southdown is hard to get. If your don't want it I am sure someone in your local reef club would like to have it.

 

[So Cal shaggy]

it might have some stinky rotten spots if it was sealed up in a bag but just give it a wash/rinse with clean freshwater and you should be fine in fact the ammonia released from any dead or decaying organics in the sand will help your tank cycle.

 

[NCreefwannabe]

I did the same thing. Bu tI had about 200 lbs of it used lol. Once I got near the bottom of the trash can it started getting slightly off color. I didnt use it all, but i did miss it in with the rest. I had ammonia spike about 3 days later w/o adding anything to the tank.

 

[iggyman1971]

Thanks for everyones input. I think I'm going to try and use the sand.
iggyman1971