reusing sand ?'s

[angieg1123]

I took down a 40 G breeder tank (FOWLR) about 2 weeks ago. It was only set up for 3-4 months then I my plans changed. I used about 1 inch of that sand in my current SH tank (20g tank).

I have the rest of the sand in a large bucket in my fish room. (about 60 lbs of it) I want to set up a 45G High so it can start cycling for the seahorses. Can I use the sand that's been in the bucket for 13 days or do I have to throw it away and buy new sand? Can I add a bag of agra alive to the top layer of this sand?

Thanks,

Angela

 

[kjdeut]

If you are setting up a new tank I dont see why not because the 45g high will need to cycle anyways. Has the sand been in water or is it dried out? You most likely would want to rinse it before using it.
If you are buying the agra sand I would save your money and just seed the 45g with a cup of sand from 20g tank.

Ken

 

[Fredfish]

You will be fine re-using the sand. You can give it a quick rinse before using if you want.

 

[BradL.]

The top 1/2 inch or so is ok. Save a couple cups. That is all you should use. The rest toss. Trust me on this.

 

[pledosophy]

I see no problem reusing all of the sand.

Brad, what are we trusting you on?

Please share your experience.

 

[angieg1123]

Thanks everyone.
I think I will try to reuse the sand. Here are my reasons. The sand came out of a 40G breeder tank that only had 1 -3 stripe damsel and 25 white feeder shrimp in it for 2-3 months. It was set up for a V. Lionfish. (My LFS ordered 3 of them for me and I wasn't wasn't happy with one.....it fins were all split and ragged looking. The other two died at the LFS within 2 days of them getting them in. )Needless to say, the tank was never really used.

I know there wasn't a lot of crud in the sand to begin with. It was not a deep sand bed, it was about an inch or so. Maybe 2 inches.

IF the sand would have been in a different tank, like my reef and would have been used for a longer time, I would not even consider using it because of all of the crude that builds up in the DSB.

It is VERY fine sand ( southdown ) so rinsing it will be a problem, lol. But I will try. The tank is going to be cycling for 4-6 weeks since I'm adding new live rock to it.

Thanks again,
Angie

 

[kjdeut]

Sounds good Angie, I think that was where Brad was coming from. I would have never recommended using it either if it had been in a established tank for a long time. But being that the tank it was on was only set up for a few months you should be good to go with rinse and reuse.

Ken

 

[BradL.]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6599645#post6599645 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pledosophy
I see no problem reusing all of the sand.

Brad, what are we trusting you on?

Please share your experience.

I should have said personally Id use new sand.And seed it with a couple cups. The rest will be risky due to upset of the anaerobic layer. Moving old sand can crash a tank. I under stand its only a few months old,but if youve ever gone barebottom you know how much nasty stuff accumulates.

 

[pledosophy]

I agree with you Brad. I think if you were to add all of that sand to an existing tank, it would potentially and likely cause a crash.

Since the sand would be going into a tank where it was to cycle, I think your in the clear.

I have moved sandbeds, and yeah they get gross. The smell alone is cause enough just to buy new stuff.

I think in this particular case that using the old sand to place in a tank to be cycled would be O.K. JMO

Brad, thanks for sharing your experiences. Helps us all.