making lots of live sand

[ladyfsu]

Hey, I teach in Florida. We've had some awful things happen with our marine program here. An angry old man ruined and destroyed EVERYTHING and I've been asked to take over. The poor marine bio students (about 400 of them) didn't even have a live fish in the rooms until this last quarter (where we had 3 fish, 2 urchins, serpent star, anemone, and that's about IT!).

OK...so....I've had some tanks donated (just the tanks) all equaling about 1000 gallons. My 2 55's in the room have been running with some cheapy filters for the last 2 months and have live rock in them and some live sand. I added playground sand too. The few live critters are doing great and water parameters are good! I have 2 old VHO's on each tank someone donated who got new lights (I bought the light fixtures myself from Home Depot to put the lights in).

SO...this is what I want to know. How do I make LOTS of live sand over the next 2 months...I already have 2-55 gallon tanks up and running with live sand...what can I add to the sand to make LOTS of live sand for when we come back (summer break but I'll be in the classroom with the tanks many days a week). I want to start the year off with live sand, water and rock when they get to school so we can have fun trying to find some live things for these tanks! (of course, then we have to find a way to get live stuff, lol we'll worry about that later)!

Thx


.......yeah and if any rich and generous person wants to help out for a really worthwhile cause...FEEL FREE

 

[ladyfsu]

ok but I have no money to buy that....

They don't give me money to buy that. I bought about 15 lbs of very nice live rock out of my own pocket that a local warehouse gave me at a very nice price.

What I want to know is what sort of substrate can I add to my existing live sand to make some nice beds of sand...and what else should I do? Add lots of circulation and phytoplankton? What will make the most LIVE stuff...what will be most practical in a variety of tanks (filter feeder tank, invert tank, tropical fish tank, seahorse tank....and so one).

 

[ReeferRyan]

YGPM

 

[shilo_1]

Once the other tanks are up and running (water and circulation) add the dead sand to the tanks, and seed with some live sand from your established systems. Throw in a bit of LR rubble or LR if you can. The critters will populate the sand and reach large numbers in a relatively short time.

You will need to feed the tank, something like a few drops of DT's once or twice a week should be fine.

Thinking sump-wise....pods are usually plentiful when there is cheato. lol Maybe you could get some and put it in there. lol

 

[IslandCrow]

I've yet to find the stuff around where I live, but there's a playground sand called Southdown that everyone here raves about as being a very good substrate to seed with live sand. There may be someplace to order online, but I haven't found it. You may also want to ask at your local Home Depot and see if it's something they can order for you if they don't have it onhand. Anyone able to help out Ladyfsu with any more info on Southdown or other substitutes?

 

[IslandCrow]

By chance, I happened to find the other possible type of sand you can use in a different thread. It's called Kolorscape (made by Old Castle - same company that makes Southdown), but I'm not sure the verdict is out on if it's the same stuff as Southdown. I guess you could do the old vinegar test (pour some vinegar on the sand, if it bubbles, it's aragonite based), but I'm not sure if there's anything they'd put in playground sand that would be bad for a reef tank. Anyway, here's the thread. Perhaps someone will have an answer to the question by the time you read it:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=843709

 

[CarmieJo]

I think it sounds like you already have live sand in your current tanks. You can use play sand in your others and seed it with your live sand. You can get base rock cheap and it will turn in to live rock when put in a tank with live rock. Get into a local club and/or online group. You can start by looking in the the clubs forum here on RC to see if there is one close to where you live. Getting LS from several sources gives you bio-diversity. In fact if you can find a local club you may get donations of LS, LR, coral frags, etc, etc. Sometimes a group of our local reefers will get together and everyone bring a cup of sand. Then everything is mixed together and everyone takes a cup of the mixed up sand home with them. I saved a ton when I set my tank up by getting my LS & LR from a local reefer who was getting out of the hobby.

If you yourself are new to the hobby you may want to check out the TalkingReef podcasts. You can find them at www.talkingreef.com or on iTunes. The podcasts cover topics from beginner to advanced and there are also a few video podcasts to show you hands on techniques. If you don't have an iPod or mp3 player you can download iTunes and listen at your computer. Both the podcasts and iTunes are free.

Good Luck.

 

[CarmieJo]

Hey, I don't know where you are in relation to Broward County but this http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=843583 might help you with base rock.

 

[ladyfsu]

WOW this is really interesting!! I'll definately be trying some of this out. Thank you!!