Live sand? What would happen if...

J

j.falk

Member
...I put live sand in a new tank, filled it up with saltwater and let it sit without any type of filtration or powerheads turned on? Would the live sand die, foul out the water and start stinking or would everything be fine? I won't be adding any livestock to it...just the sand and saltwater.

I'm asking because my filter is scheduled to be delivered this coming Tuesday but I wanted to get the majority of things set up over the weekend since I'm home from work and will have the time to do it. Would it hurt anything to not have any oxygen being produced in the tank for a couple of days?
 
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What would keep you from either using an old "under powered" filter from an old tank or just buying a cheap one from Petco or something to keep the water moving until your (presumably larger and more expensive) filter came in on Tuesday? I'm not sure, to answer your question...but I don't think sitting salt water is a good thing
 
Orsamax said:
What would keep you from either using an old "under powered" filter from an old tank or just buying a cheap one from Petco or something to keep the water moving until your (presumably larger and more expensive) filter came in on Tuesday? I'm not sure, to answer your question...but I don't think sitting salt water is a good thing
Click to expand...

This is my only tank. I took my old tank down a year ago and sold everything.

Cheapest filter I saw at Petsmart was $40.00. I really don't want to spend that on something I'll only be using for a couple of days.

How's saltwater sitting in a garbage can without aeration any different than sitting in a fish tank for a couple of days? My concern isn't the water...but the live sand fouling out the tank.
 
I agree, it isn't the water, it's the sand that will be sitting in stagnant water. I wouldn't get a filter, I'd get some sort of pump or even just air pump and air stone to create some oxygenation and flow. Just my recommendation.
 
First, the live sand is sitting in a bag right now with no filtration or aeration sooooo theres that.

Second, I wouldn't worry about it much. Using a product like Bio Spira gets that initial cycle done without any of that live stuff or weeks of sitting.
1- I did it on a 150 gallon with 55 gallon sump.
2- Added several large fish faster then most finish their cycle.
3- I did do double the recommended in the first week just to be sure.
4- Never saw ammonia, never saw nitrites, nitrates were all I've ever dealt with.

Edit: Not sure I would trust that method to sensitive fish though. But then again if you're just starting I wouldn't recommend sensitive fish period.
 
Icewing, good call on the bag of "live" sand. I made the assumption that OP had a source for live sand like a buddy or something, wasn't even thinking about the store bought bags of "live" sand.

Disregard my previous posts! Thanks
 
Not necessary. The cloud from the sand will actually settle in the tank over a couple of days. If that’s the only reason you are buying the filter I would skip it.
 
Crooked Reef said:
Not necessary. The cloud from the sand will actually settle in the tank over a couple of days. If that's the only reason you are buying the filter I would skip it.
Click to expand...

Cool. I'll go ahead and hang onto the filter in case I ever need it down the road.

I went ahead and set the aquarium up last night and as of today, it's 50% clear already. It's settling out a lot quicker than my last setup did.
 
I put a powerhead in the aquarium today and now everything is stirred up and cloudy again. It was clear this morning when nothing was running on it.
 
Yesterday I added the little pouch of liquid clarifier to the aquarium and it cleared up overnight. The tank was crystal clear this morning. Everything looked great.

Then I checked the salinity...which was a little on the high side. So, I poured in a tiny bit of water to dilute the salinity and now the tank is back to being cloudy again. Should I just go ahead and put the filter on the tank and run it for awhile to pull all the fine particles out or is this something that will eventually take care of itself?

It seems that every time I adjust something in the tank it stirs things up again and it goes back to being cloudy. Is this a common issue with Arag Alive Fiji pink live sand? Should I pull all of that sand out and switch it to something that is more coarse?

If I remember correctly, last time I used Ocean's Direct live sand and once it cleared up I never had the cloudy water issue again. Then again I also ran an Aqua C Remora on that tank which I'm pretty sure pulled all the fine particles of sand out of the water column.
 
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