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Live Sand Disposal

post #1 of 21
11/29/08 at 12:06pm
Thread Starter 
Took down the 75 gallon tank I had and now I've got about 70 pounds of live sand I need to get rid of. Obviously I could just throw it in the dumpster, but there's obviously other ways of disposal. Any suggestions that anybody has would be great.

Thanks!
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post #2 of 21
11/29/08 at 12:09pm
Sell it. People will pay for that stuff...
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post #3 of 21
11/29/08 at 12:14pm
Originally Posted by T316 View Post
Sell it. People will pay for that stuff...
Yep! Or even offer it for free to someone.
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post #4 of 21
11/29/08 at 2:54pm
fargo your close meet you halfway?
or send it to me?
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post #5 of 21
11/29/08 at 6:12pm
My LFS told me (ha ha ha...) that if I transferred my old (1yr running in a 65g) LS into my new 120 I would crash the tank, How much truth is there to this?
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post #6 of 21
11/29/08 at 6:32pm
Originally Posted by Keri View Post
My LFS told me (ha ha ha...) that if I transferred my old (1yr running in a 65g) LS into my new 120 I would crash the tank, How much truth is there to this?
Find a new LFS
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post #7 of 21
11/29/08 at 6:50pm
Originally Posted by florida joe View Post
Find a new LFS
+100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

every post ive seen about upgrading says to use ur old sand, it will keep u from having a new cycle :P

am ir ight on that joe? lol
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post #8 of 21
11/29/08 at 7:00pm
Originally Posted by mboswell1982 View Post
+100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

every post ive seen about upgrading says to use ur old sand, it will keep u from having a new cycle :P

am ir ight on that joe? lol
The advantage of putting live sand from a healthy tank into a new one is that the live sand will seed the new tank. Going from a smaller tank to a larger tank will mean you may be introducing sand with out any biological bacteria in it to make up the area and height of your new substrate so you will want to monitor your tank for a spike. Moving sand from one tank to another will also disrupt the areas of anaerobic bacteria so you will get a rise in nitrates until your new tank stabilizes but by all means add the new live sand from a healthy old tank to a new one
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post #9 of 21
11/29/08 at 7:04pm
see, there it is, all explained, so well so that a redneck like me can understand it LOL
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post #10 of 21
11/30/08 at 12:40am
Awesome :)

I will do so.

Thanks for the tips. Should I start putting the old sand slowly into the new tank? (They are both running, the new one just has SW and LR in it) I was thinking a bit at a time for the bulk of it till I move it (the rest of thje LR and livestock and corals from the old tank) over?

...and sorry to hijack!!!
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post #11 of 21
11/30/08 at 3:41pm
What I would do is get some gallon zip lock bags fill them with sand from your old tank close them and put the bags on the bottom of your new tank and slowly open and tip out the sand it will keep a lot of the sand from getting suspended in your water and speeds up the clearing process of your water
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post #12 of 21
11/30/08 at 6:11pm
Originally Posted by jschultz View Post
Took down the 75 gallon tank I had and now I've got about 70 pounds of live sand I need to get rid of. Obviously I could just throw it in the dumpster, but there's obviously other ways of disposal. Any suggestions that anybody has would be great.

Thanks!

Find a local reef club, and give it away.
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post #13 of 21
11/30/08 at 8:52pm
Originally Posted by florida joe View Post
What I would do is get some gallon zip lock bags fill them with sand from your old tank close them and put the bags on the bottom of your new tank and slowly open and tip out the sand it will keep a lot of the sand from getting suspended in your water and speeds up the clearing process of your water
+1. Good idea. You need to add the sand to the new tank a little at a time to keep from having a spike. If this is a new tank with no fish or coral, it could help the tank cycle.
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post #14 of 21
12/2/08 at 4:23am
This tank (the new one) just has heated SW and about 20lbs of LR in it. I have 100+ LBs of LR in the other two tanks that I plan on adding to this one.

I love the ziplock idea!
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post #15 of 21
12/2/08 at 4:52pm
Originally Posted by Keri View Post
This tank (the new one) just has heated SW and about 20lbs of LR in it. I have 100+ LBs of LR in the other two tanks that I plan on adding to this one.

I love the ziplock idea!
I had to try to get at least one good idea in before the end of the year
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post #16 of 21
12/4/08 at 2:21pm
why can't you just toss it in the dumpster?

btw the fear is that in a dsb there is the potential of sulfer being released in the tank. Now, i've never seen this happen, and have numerous times moved sand from one tank to another.
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post #17 of 21
12/5/08 at 12:21am
Originally Posted by stdreb27 View Post
why can't you just toss it in the dumpster?

btw the fear is that in a dsb there is the potential of sulfer being released in the tank. Now, i've never seen this happen, and have numerous times moved sand from one tank to another.
Can you please, to further my own education direct me to any info alluding to the problem of sulfur when tearing down one tank and using the sand for another
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post #18 of 21
12/5/08 at 12:27am
Originally Posted by florida joe View Post
Can you please, to further my own education direct me to any info alluding to the problem of sulfur when tearing down one tank and using the sand for another
I'm not entirely sure, I'm trying to remember the main person who told me this. But it was explained to me as a byproduct of decaying matter. Like bury a huge chunk of algae or something. Ever smelled decaying swamp flora? It smells like sulfur.
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post #19 of 21
12/5/08 at 1:28am
Actually I was just being me sulfur in fact is very beneficial to an aquarium if you are interested do some research on sulfur reactors in major aquariums it is very interesting and something most general hobbyists are not aware of
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post #20 of 21
12/10/08 at 5:55am
+1 to LFS comment as well as sand transfer, solid advice from joe

and if that LFS told me something that ridiculous id make sure all my buds knew that the place was a joke. either he didnt know better, and you dont want to do business with him. OR he knew better and wanted to make a buck sellin more sand...in which case you dont want to do business with him
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