Sand Bed

[bubblewood]

I'm posting this here cause my tank is mostly SPS. Just don't know if this would affect them.
Looking for some advice on adding more Fiji pink sand to my tank. I currently have about 2.5" of a sand bed. Which is slightly covered in small areas of algae. It's not cyno, slime, green, purple, hair or anything like that. Its just discolored light brownish. I have lots of CUC running thru it. Just want to give my bed a cleaner look. Can I just add new rinsed sand on top of the old? Working in small sections? Or will this cause weird stuff to happen to my water parameters? My tank is mostly SPS.
What's your thoughts on this?
Thanks!

 

[gdemos]

have you been stirring/syphoning sand at all in your maintenance routine? if not, then a disturbance can lead to harmful cycles depending on your bio-load and tank maturity.

otherwise I'd rinse new sand in RO water and add the rinsed sand strategically in areas of concern over time, not all at once, and if replacing other sand you're not happy with take the same approach.

 

[bubblewood]

No I haven't stirred or syphoned the sand bed. It has been untouched. Tank is almost a year old. Lots of mature rock and SPS's corals.

 

[gdemos]

Then take it slow and be observant in the process. Personally I subscribe to the syphon/stir sandbed approach as part of maintenance practice, doing so with subtlety not every WC. Others may disagree. Like staining a teak deck, once you do it you should keep doing it.