Mixing live sand with dead?
- Thread starter pyro383
- Start date
mrlexington
New Member
Go ahead, mix it up.
bob the builder
Member
Welcome to the Board, and the forum i might add 
. Most people who have reefs you use just live sand and have nothing under The substrate. I think you should just leave the sand the way it is, that is fine. If you did mix them together, some areas would have more dead sand, then live, and food/poo/pee wouldnt be disolved or eaten, leaving it to rot in the tank. I hope this helped.
From,
Your friendly neighborhood Handy man.
. Most people who have reefs you use just live sand and have nothing under The substrate. I think you should just leave the sand the way it is, that is fine. If you did mix them together, some areas would have more dead sand, then live, and food/poo/pee wouldnt be disolved or eaten, leaving it to rot in the tank. I hope this helped.From,
Your friendly neighborhood Handy man.
ruaround
Active Member
There isnt any reason to mix em up...the bacteria will eventually work its way to the "dead" sand and make it "live"...And if your sand is deep enough the you will end up with the anearobic bacteria that completes the nitrogen cycle. It wouldnt hurt adding more live rock or sand to help this process along .
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wamp
Active Member
To sum it all up....
You can do either one. It will not hurt a thing by mixing it or leaving it alone. The only thing is if your live snd is on the bottom you will have nitrates break down a little sooner. This is because you will already have bacteria growth on this layer and the lack of 02 will convert it to anaerobic bacteria thus speeding up the cycling process.... This is all assuming you are doing a DSB.. If not, it will tank about the same time either way....
Good Luck
You can do either one. It will not hurt a thing by mixing it or leaving it alone. The only thing is if your live snd is on the bottom you will have nitrates break down a little sooner. This is because you will already have bacteria growth on this layer and the lack of 02 will convert it to anaerobic bacteria thus speeding up the cycling process.... This is all assuming you are doing a DSB.. If not, it will tank about the same time either way....
Good Luck
richard rendos
Active Member
It doesn't matter if you mix it up or leave it alone. The bacteria in the live sand will soon colonize the dead sand and eventually it will all be live sand. I never use live sand and within 4 to 5 months it is live. Bacteria from live rock colonize the sand very quickly. If you lived in an overcrowded neighborhood and some homes opened up next to you with more room, wouldn't you move too? Especially if it was a free move.
zack schwartz
Active Member
I just have my ls on top of my dead sand. Everything is fine. My ls looks a lot better than my dead sand anyway.