Southdown playsand?
- Thread starter ntvflgirl
- Start date
hondo
Member
Adding sand to an established tank is messy but not that hard. first remove the CC if that is what you have. If you have sand and are just adding more sand then all you need to remember is to not add more than 1/2" at any one time (wait 3 or 4 days before adding any more) so you don't kill your already live sand. When you add the sand you can pour it through a tube or PVC. Or just put it in a cup and slowly submerge the cup in the tank and lower the cup to the bottom and pour it out nice and easy. Or youcan go with the sand storm method and just dump it in but this is not recomended. No matter what you do you will have some cloudy water for a while as the smaller particles of sand will move around until they becom heavy with bacteria and settle down.
j21kickster
Active Member
why remove the CC? if you can just scoot it to the back then add the sand. removing the CC gets rid off good bacteria if you scoot it to the back and then cover it it stays under it pretty well- assuming you dont have any large sifters.
ntvflgirl
Member
I don't think that I have cc. I have the Nature's ocean aragonite, figi, and what they call live, but it's live with bacteria, not critters. I just wanted to add the Southdown on top of it. My aragonite already has worms, and I'm sure other things in it as well. It's just not deep enough. Only about 2 inches now, and I can't keep my ph up. I am assuming the problem is a sand bed that's not deep enough.
bang guy
Moderator
Some of my opinions:
1 - Southdown IS 100% Aragonite. Aragonite is simply a type of Calcium carbonate.
2 - Do *NOT* ever add dry Aragonite to a reef aquarium.
3 - When adding a very fine sand like Southdown you should coat the grains with bacteria. To accomplish this, add 2 gallons of old tank water to a 5 gal bucket. Slowly pour some Southdown into the bucket until a small mound of Southdown appears. Add some flake food or other light organic food to the water and stir it into the sand. Let this sit for about a week. The sand is now safe to add to your reef.
If you want to add more sand you can have several buckets "stewing".
Guy
1 - Southdown IS 100% Aragonite. Aragonite is simply a type of Calcium carbonate.
2 - Do *NOT* ever add dry Aragonite to a reef aquarium.
3 - When adding a very fine sand like Southdown you should coat the grains with bacteria. To accomplish this, add 2 gallons of old tank water to a 5 gal bucket. Slowly pour some Southdown into the bucket until a small mound of Southdown appears. Add some flake food or other light organic food to the water and stir it into the sand. Let this sit for about a week. The sand is now safe to add to your reef.
If you want to add more sand you can have several buckets "stewing".
Guy
ntvflgirl
Member
Bang Guy,
Should I even be doing water changes yet? LFS, who I am not sure is reliable as of yet, told me to wait about 6 months before doing a water change. What's your opinion on that? Ammonia, trites and trates are zero, ph is unstable. about 8.2 today, maybe a little less, but not lower than 8.0. Like I said before, I'm assuming it's because of not enough of a dsb. If you do think I should be doing changes, what is the best way to go about it? Thanks.
Rory
Should I even be doing water changes yet? LFS, who I am not sure is reliable as of yet, told me to wait about 6 months before doing a water change. What's your opinion on that? Ammonia, trites and trates are zero, ph is unstable. about 8.2 today, maybe a little less, but not lower than 8.0. Like I said before, I'm assuming it's because of not enough of a dsb. If you do think I should be doing changes, what is the best way to go about it? Thanks.
Rory
bang guy
Moderator
Right or Wrong, I advocate regular water changes even during the cycle. Every tank situation is different so every solution can be different.
I believe the more you know about your water, the more information you'll have to fix a problem should one pop up. Ca, and ALK are inportant parameters IMO, even in a Fish Only system.
Sand beds do little to stabilize PH. Yours is unstable because the tank is immature, nothing else.
I think another powerhead added now will help prevent future problems or at least make them less of a problem.
If you're going to have a DSB you need worms and/or sand bed infauna. Some will come from the rock but probably not enough. Once you have the sand bed the way you want it I suggest you order some real LIVE sand, the stuff that's crawling with mini-stars and various worms.
Just rambling with a few of my thoughts
Guy
I believe the more you know about your water, the more information you'll have to fix a problem should one pop up. Ca, and ALK are inportant parameters IMO, even in a Fish Only system.
Sand beds do little to stabilize PH. Yours is unstable because the tank is immature, nothing else.
I think another powerhead added now will help prevent future problems or at least make them less of a problem.
If you're going to have a DSB you need worms and/or sand bed infauna. Some will come from the rock but probably not enough. Once you have the sand bed the way you want it I suggest you order some real LIVE sand, the stuff that's crawling with mini-stars and various worms.
Just rambling with a few of my thoughts
Guy
gregzbobo
Member
Would any live sand sold by an online retailer be good, or do some retailers try to save some money and just send you some aragonite thats been sitting in saltwater for a week? I want to get some HIGH quality sand for my tank. I have been burned in the past buying live sand (got twenty pounds of wet beach sand), and I don't want to go through that again. Can someone recommend a GOOD source of high quality sand that costs perhaps 2 bucks a pound or so? I have no idea what live sand should cost, so any enlightenment would be great.