Sand before water

[blue dew]

Hi,
This may be a dumb question, but can you add the sand to a new tank, then carefully add the fresh water, followed by the salt? I'm setting up a 30L tank with a DSB of 60-80 lbs Pure Caribbean Aragonite sand. I was able to get a pretty good deal on the 40lb bags of sand locally. The water will be distilled and I'm going to be using Instant Ocean salt. Right now I don't have room for a large trash can to pre mix the water in. Plan on using a smaller 13 gallon rubbermaid trash bin (new) for the replacement water since it will fit under the stand. I have 2 Maxi-Jet powerheads for circulation. I plan on using semi-cured live rock (about 40-45 lbs) to cycle the tank with a cocktail shrimp or two. I know the cycle will take quite awhile. I'm not in a hurry
I'm glad I found this board awhile back, it has really helped with the planning of my tank and pointed out many things not to do.
Thanks

 

[balistidae]

water first then sand

 

[blue dew]

Thats what I was originally thinking. The directions on the bag of sand were indicating to add the sand first into the empty tank then pour the water slowly into a bowl on top of a sheet of plastic. The bowl and plastic would then reduce the cloudy water. I'll mix the water and salt in the tank first, let it get to the right PH and salinity, then add the sand.
Thanks

 

[thomas712]

Personally if we are talking about dry sand then I would put the sand in first, then slowly as possable add the water and try to prevent it from disturbing the sand to much.
If you have water then try to add the dry sand it will be cloudy in seconds and you will not be able to see where your sand has built up or not. At least thats the way it is with southdown sand.
Some have placed the sand in and a layer of plastic over the sand with holes in it so that the water can seep into the sand then slowly lift the plastic up after it has soaked in a while. This keeps the sand even and is said to reduce cloudyness.
Thomas

 

[twicklund]

Normally, i would suggest adding the sand first, like the directions said. But I also would have the water and salt mixed already before I added the water. If you add the sand first and try to mix the water/salt with the sand in the tank, it could really get messy (and cloudy). If you add the water, like you said, then add the sand later, add it through a piece of PVC pipe. This will take longer, but may help in keeping the cloudiness down. Of course, your tank will have plenty of time to settle as it cycles, so it shouldn't be too detrimental either way.
tw

 

[killafins]

if its reg sand than add it first just to make life easy. But if it is live i would recommend adding the water first...

 

[toddpolish]

just the info I needed.
purearagonite guy said to add the sand first. So, I think I'll do that...
I'll be mixing the water/salt separately

 

[imo]

Add the sand first and then place a dinner plate or bowl on the sand. You can then poor the water into the tank and the plate/bowl will prevent most of the turbulance from kicking up your sand. Nothing will prevent a little bit of cloudiness.

 

[toddpolish]

sweet idea

 

[plhsurfer]

This is what I did.... may help.
I filled the tank with my sand, then covered with plastic garbage bags, then placed a dinner plate, then a bowl on top of the plate.. Poured the water in the bowl, once the tank is full, you can remove the bowl and plate, the garbage bags will then slowly start to rise, then you can then pull them out.. did this and within 2 hours the tank was crystal clear..

 

[carsgirlsnfish]

here's what i did and it worked really good. i got a bunch of small pieces of tubing (like an air pump uses) and siphon them all into the tank. if you make sure the water first hits and runs down the glass your sand will not be stirred up at all...it worked really good for me

 

[bang guy]

Personally I would add at least 1/2 of the water and then pour the sand in a violently as possible. This will reduce the number of air pockets trapped in the sand and create a healthy sand bed sooner.

 

[blue dew]

Well, I ended up mixing 16 gallons of sea water in a seperate container for 24 hours. The salt appeared to disolve well. I then put 50 lbs of the Caribbian Aragonite sand into my 30 gallon tank, using the directions on the bag of sand. Put down a piece of plastic just slightly smaller than the ******** of the tank, with a bowl on top. Slowly added water gallon by gallon until it was above the level of the bowl, then removed the bowl. Continued until I had the 15 gallons of water in the tank.
Then I let the water set for 6 hours like the bag said. Turned on one powerhead that I set up to circulate across the top of the water and I have a nice cloudy mess. I let the powerhead run for a few hours, then shut it off since it seemed to get worse, not better. I just got home from work and I can actually see the bottom of the tank. Still pretty murky though. I'm debating whether to just run the powerhead from this point on and hope for the best.

 

[justchillin]

if your mixing your salt in the tank than do that before adding the sand...your it will be cloudy for a few days but there's nothing in there to see anyway....
mike

 

[toddpolish]

just implemented your ideas...
resulted in no clouds

 

[toddpolish]

above, the tubing was placed inside the bowl...this was just after I was finished with the first 20g...
then took out the bag...

 

[toddpolish]

on the left are 2 pieces of dead coral from a trip to aruba. they are somewhat flat. the idea in keeping them there is to prevent sand from entering the corner overflow openings - cause they are lined up at 3" height. I wanted 4" dsb.

 

[blue dew]

My tank finally cleared up after three days. I ended up installing two foam pre-filters on my power heads. I've got to rinse them since they are now the color of my sandbed, but the water is more clear than it was. Now I'll wait until I can get some live rock next week and then start the cycle process.

 

[toddpolish]

after I got the water clear with the plastic trash bag and bowl idea...I used a powerhead so I could get an accurate temp. Well...now it's cloudy. I don't really care cause when I get the LR, it's going to cloud up anyways.
My questions are...
1. should I use my powerheads now before LR?
2. Now, after I put LR in the tank (and it clouds up again), should I use my powerheads? or should I keep the powerheads off till it's no longer cloudy?