Some Sand Questions

[DallasNYC]

Hi, all. I haven?t been very active with my tank the last year or so and am looking to get things back up to standards. I?m considering upgrading from my 55 to a 75. Not a big move, but about all I can do in my apartment.

My question is, what should I do with my sand. It is about 5 yrs old now. It is about a 2-1/2? deep bed, coarse aragonite. Is it still good to use? Can I just rinse it out several times. I am a little confused about the sand being a ?sponge? for phosphates. Are the phosphates trapped in the spaces between the sand particles, in which case, rinsing should release most of it? Or do the particles themselves absorb the phosphates. I don?t have a phosphate test kit, so I can?t tell you what the water conditions are. I have always used RO/DI water.

I noticed House of Fish is having a group buy on the ESV sand and would like to get some opinions on it. I have seen a few post and it looks pretty good. How bad are the sand storms with the fine grade? I have seen some people mixing the coarse with the fine. Is the coarse grade also oolitic? Will the two mixed grades stay mixed? Does the mixing cut down on the sand storms?

If I go with new sand, is it enough to seed with my own sand, or should I seed from several other tanks? Are all bacterias the same in our tanks? I will have a refugium with sand as well. So as not to change the look of the sand, can I just seed the refugium and will the bacterias make it to the display tank?

Thanks

Dallas

 

[deelucky]

im also going to start a new tank a 90.i have a 29gal its been up for a year now and i too want to go with the esv.i seeked some advise from prattsreef and he told me to soak the sand in tank water for a few days with a power head so that it can get the bacteria it needs.being that i have a tank up and running i can keep my livestock there until a cycle is complete with the new tank i plan on adding about 100lbs of live rock which ill clean as best i can then let thhe cycle take its place then once its done as advised place my old rock and livestock into the 90.hope that helps.

 

[House of Laughter]

Dallas, good to see you back - I've noticed you lurking once in while and hope all is well -

Some people rinse the fine grade to avoid the sandstorms - the fine grade is large enough granule that once rinsed, sandstorms are minimal.

Hope that helps out.

House

 

[DallasNYC]

Thanks Dee Lucky,
Thanks House, Yes things are good, just having been paying enough atterntion to my tank.

What are your opions of washing the sand I have.

Either way, I am leaning towards the ESV sand, because it looks so nice and now would be the time to do it.

 

[House of Laughter]

I think if you decide to use the new sand to not put anything in the tank until the sand settles down and the system is running without and test readings - if you can rinse the sand, I would, but don't go nuts with a tea strainer doing so.

I plan on restarting my reef with my sand after I do the same - I'll likely put fresh ro-di into a 5g pail with about 1/2 full of sand and rinse that a few times before I put it into the system.

HTH

House

 

[jhale]

2.5" is not deep enough for anything nasty to form, so you could use the sand again, just wash it really well.

I used the fine grained ESV sand, I like it. I washed the sand pretty good, I was putting it in an established system. I had to find the sweet spots for my power heads to avoid moving the sand.