Adding Sand to Active Tank

truperc

Member
I am considering adding additional sand to my sand bed, but my tank is already established and I do not want to pull everything out to do it.
Is there a good technique for doing this?
Is this a bad idea?
 

slider101

Member
Originally Posted by TruPerc
http:///forum/post/3043063
I am considering adding additional sand to my sand bed, but my tank is already established and I do not want to pull everything out to do it.
Is there a good technique for doing this?
Is this a bad idea?
I did this and I used Aragonite sand that is not live. I rinsed it in a bucket and added it to my tank by filling up plastic bags and lowering them into my tank. Then I tore open the bags at the bottom and let the sand fall out. This minimized sand blowing all over the place.
 

salt life

Active Member
I would add small amounts in sections over a period of a few weeks, let the new sand get established in one section then move on to the next. you do it all at once and it will mess up your already established sand and mess up your water params.
 

truperc

Member
I thought I would report my results on adding the sand, and the approach I took in case others do a search in the future.
First I bought 20 lbs of Caribsea Arag-Alive Bimini Pink.
The sand was on sale the day I went, so it was actually cheaper then the "dead" sand, and I figured it certainly couldn't hurt to use the live version.
I took the advice of Slider and Salt Life and added the sand over time. About 3 weeks in total.
I decided to modify Slider's approach to the torn bag, but used the same principle.
I had an unused icing bag used to put icing on cakes, so this was my delivery mechanism.
After I cut off a little more of the end to make a slightly bigger hole at the bottom, I folded over the end and sealed it with a veggie clip.
I filled the bag most of the way to the top with the sand.
After turning off the powerheads and pumps, I just lowered the icing bag into the tank, released the veggie clip, and piped the sand where I wanted it to go.
I was very happy with the results. I was able to be precise where I wanted the sand to go, and had almost no cloudiness.
Thanks again Slider and Salt Life for your input.
 

ryancw01

Member
That live sand that you buy pre-packaged will have a die off and cycle so keep an eye on your water parameters. It is mostly for new tanks that you are going to cycle anyway. Dead sand is better for already established tanks. You should be fine though.
 
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