adding new sand

[duke62]

so im going through a outbreak of cyano and have battled it for a month now.the growth has slowed down and now i am shutting down the lights for a couple of days to kill off whatever is left.hopefully this will be the last i see of it in awhile.during the battle i sucked up alot of sand and i want to replenish my sand bed.what do i need to do to add new sand without getting a ammonia spike.should i buy the sand with water in the bag or should i buy dry sand.i know there will be cloudiness in the water when i add but when i didi my setup i syphoned it in and got minimul cloudiness in the water.my main concern i an ammonia spike.

 

[duke62]

Nothing

 

[nanoreefer22]

I'd just take your time. Turn off all the flow, put a few pounds of sand in a time via a ziplock bag. Cut a hole in the bottom corner of the bag and put it in like you would icing on a cake SHould would nicely with minimal mess, just time consuming.

The wet sand would probably cloud your tank a lot a lot less.

 

[duke62]

hey kris i have 40lbs of sand from my old setup thathas been sitting in my basement now for 1 1/2 years.how can i reuse it.should i wash it out and just add it or should i cure it like LR and let it sit in a bucket with a powerhead and check it for ammonia every day till its down to zero.

 

[cmor1701d]

Duke, nanoreefer gave you perfect advice. As it's not cured you will get some blowing around when you turn the pumps back on. If it's a couple of pounds you shouldn't have anything to worry about. It will settle down over time.

Before reusing old sand I would wash it thorougly, several cycles of that and then cure it. Who knows what's in there.

 

[nanoreefer22]

J,

With the old sand just wash it out as many times as you can until you stop seeing anything other than dust from the sand. I think cycling it anywhere but your tank would be kind of a waste and heres why i think that. If the sand cycles in a bucket and then you move it, you're going to disturb the aerobic and anaerobic layers, causing die off in the sand. Best bet just deal with the mini cycle in the tank or use new sand altogether. If you really want to reuse the old sand just make sure you wash it out thoroughly.

If you see me not responding, shoot me a PM lol I've been off on keeping up with my reading of threads i post on.