New Live Sand added over existing Live Sand Bed?? Problem??

moy

Member
Currently i have 40lbs of Live Sand in my 46gallon bowfront. Im thinking of adding more Live Sand, but i need to know wether there will be a problem if i add new Live Sand over the Existing Live Sand in the tank??
Please advise! :rolleyes: :confused:
 

flamehawk

Active Member
Why add more live sand? The current sand would seed the new"dead" sand to make it live and cost alott less. Go to Home depot and pick up some southdown carribean play sand. About 3.00 a 50lb bag. S/b no problem mixing w/ current L/S.
 

moy

Member
so if i add this new southdown carribean "dead" sand to my tank (which of course already has 40 lbs of Live Sand), DO i mix the sand up with the live sand or do i just lay it over the existing Live Sand in my tank??
 

kidrockfish

New Member
Moy, I also have a 46 Bow reef. When I started this tank I was in the same situation as you. I had appox. 30lbs live sand which I wanted to convert a DSB. As southdown is not availible here, I added 75lbs of Quick-crete (sp?) white silica sand. I just put it on top of the original live sand. This has been about 3 months ago and I have had no problems with it yet.
 

ocellaris_keeper

Active Member
Moy,
I agree with the shark here. You can get LS from this site and should get some pretty exciting animals. this sand will cause your tank to "soft cycle" (ammonia rise to .25 in a day and then drop back to zero as the biofilter re-adjusts.
I have done it twice with excellent creature returns.
 

fshhub

Active Member
we had no problems, but you can't add too much, too fast, no more than 1/4 inch at a time, or you will probably suffocate teh life you have in the sand already
 
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