smelly sand

[pohtr]

I picked up what I thought was live sand from an established tank at a fish store out of town.I also picked up 2 little live rocks which I think are uncured. The sand stinks like a sewer. Is this live sand or some other kind of sand? Bacteria sand? I have nothing but saltwater in the tank right now and the sand & rocks are in a 5 gal bucket of salt water where it is stinking up the livingroom. Please Help!
Is it o.k. for me to put my play sand in and add the stinky stuff and the live rock to my tank right now? The water level is not up to the overflow thingy yet and the filters are not on. I have a pump in the tank pushing the water around. Do I need to have a heater in there at this point? Do I have to have the salt just right for the sand and rock?

 

[jesatfis]

is the tank empety?
if it is throw it in if thier is no life coarls fish inverts ect
thjen guess what, turn on the filter and make sure u got carbon in it

 

[pohtr]

thanks
There's nothing living in the tank that I could kill, but can you kill live rock? Is the sand supposed to be so rank? Oops, I forgot to get carbon, will it be o.k. for a couple of days without it? It's a long way to a LPS.

 

[snipe]

Place the sand in there it will be cloudy. At this poin "DONT" turn your filters on the sand can erode the blades in the pumps and then you have to buy new pumps filters or whatever. I would place the sand in there and turn the heater on let the heat get to around 80 and let the sand settle. When the sand has settled and the temp is alright place the rock in the tank.

 

[pohtr]

I put the live sand and rock in there late last night, temp and salt were pretty close (no pumps running). Then this a.m. I put in the play sand ( I pushed the live sand to one end and then pushed it back over more or less on top of the play sand). Only about 1" deep total. I had rinsed the play sand some and it really didn't cloud up that much, I guess since I scooped the sand from the bucket and poured it out only after I got it to the bottom of the tank. Then the filters got running this afternoon. So far it looks pretty good, but it was kind of scary filling a 90 gal for the first time right in the livingroom....seems like sooo much water! Now for the wait.
Thanks for the help.

 

[cowfishrule]

Originally posted by pohtr
thanks
There's nothing living in the tank that I could kill, but can you kill live rock? Is the sand supposed to be so rank? Oops, I forgot to get carbon, will it be o.k. for a couple of days without it? It's a long way to a LPS.
its fine
some people dont even use carbon in their tanks

 

[pohtr]

do I still need a shrimp? Or is all that stinky stuff going to start the cycle? By the way it's almost totally clear already.

 

[snipe]

If you didnt have enough live rock to cycle the tank I would still add the shrimp even with the sand. In some cases with live rock I would still add the shrimp just to make sure I pushed my tank hard enough to have a good bacteria colony.

 

[pohtr]

Thanks, I will find a shrimp. There's only about 7 lbs of live sand and 2 little live rocks about 3 lbs total, for a 90 gal so I'm guessing that's not enough to start the cycle. I am adding a few dead rocks tomorrow, but that doesn't matter, does it?

 

[snipe]

That wouldnt matter with the dead lace rock. And that isnt a hole of sand or rock.