Adding Live Sand to an Established tank

Timbits · #1 05-20-2011, 08:14 PM

I'm shutting down one of my tanks and i have about 20lbs of live sand in there that i want to transfer to another tank. Is it okay to do this and how would i go about doing this. Thanks

ensquire · #2 05-21-2011, 02:02 AM

I may get corrected on this
But at the very least you are going to have to wash your sand out. The danger in stirring up an established sandbed is that you may release a lot of trapped gases.
I'm sure others will chime in on this. I'm in the same boat as you. I'm trading a tank into my setups and will be moving things between a couple of tanks.

monocus · #3 05-21-2011, 04:05 AM

put it in a container and slowly sink it.then gradually pour it out under water

Timbits · #4 05-21-2011, 06:12 AM

is it okay to move it all at once or should i do it slowly like move a cup a day

RuGlu6 · #5 05-21-2011, 09:40 AM

Ok I have done it many times, however be very mindful and proceed with caution.
Keep in mind that if you have a relatively deep sand bed I would not risk it.
Anything deeper then 3 inch will have layers of different bacteria and different oxygen content. In that case I would not do it. the bacterial die off will be massive and pollution is unnecessary.
If you only have one inch or so just go ahead and dump it in to the other tank, no problems.
hth

Oscar · #6 03-06-2012, 08:15 PM

When I first set up my nano tank a few years ago I started with 1-3" of live sand which I think was Caribsea Arag-Alive.

But after numerous vacuums and probably some dissolving it is time to add some more sand. The fine particles (<1mm) of the current sand is a real collector of detritus.

I have purchased a small bag of Carib crushed coral substrate which is listed as 2-5 mm. At this stage I am not sure if I will gradually do a "swap" of fine sand for coarser material or just slowly add and mix the two together. I will have to consider this in context of creatures I want to add in the future.

I am proposing to add this gradually to the tank, perhaps a couple of cups per day. Since it is not inoculated with bacteria I will dig a hole to add this to, so as not to bury the existing sand.

Any thoughts on adding / changing sand?