add more sand

[slothy]

i tried searching for this but 350+ topics so ill ask, i want to increase my sand bed 1-2 more inches.. whats the best way to go about this... buy live sand and add it on top, or will normal sand work fine on top ?

 

[hondo]

if you already had a sand bed in the tank then the easiest thing to do is buy dry sand and put it on top of the live sand already in your tank. Don't put more than 1/2"on top of the existing sand bed at any one time and wait about a week before adding any more as you don't want to bury the LS you already have and kill of the good bacteria (the critters will dig themselves out no matter what so don't worry about them). for putting the sand in there are several ways to do this. Use a PVC pipe and pour the sand down the pipe so it comes out the bottom where you want it. Put the sand in a cup or bag and slowly imerse the cup in the water and lower it to the bottom and empty it there. Or just dump it in and deal with the resulting sand storm. No need to buy LS as if you have sand already in your cycled tank then it has the benificial bacteria growing in it already.