using other tanks sand?

[crispcritr]

if i want to use sand from another tank(i am buying it from someone else) what do i have to do to put it in a new tank i am starting up. how do i clean it without killing everything in it?

 

[dathem]

Hello,
If the "other tank" had healthy fish and things in it, there is no need to do anything other than just add it to your tank on top of some other substrate. If the other tank was less then healthy don't use it at all.

 

[ocellaris_keeper]

Check the other tanks Nitrate level. You could be getting into a nitrate problem if it's already in there.

 

[crispcritr]

wont i get some nitrate anyway? since i am going to disrupt it. and how much should i use, he is selling 90lbs and it takes about 200lbs to do a dsb in my tank. fyi i am also planning to add about 75lbs of cured live rock to it. what ratio of this sand to new dead sand?

 

[fshhub]

don't even worry one bit about the nitrates, all you are doing is seeding the sand, and the sand bed will only help with the nitrates, the nitrates in the other tnk wil have almost no effect on what your outcome will be, once the bed starts working they will fall anyhow, our nitrates were over 50 when we started and having no corals that really does not matter alot, but they fell on thier own
you may get some garbage with it, but he amount, i would assume would be minimal, and for using sand like that, you don't need alot to seed a dry bed, and using lr too, you definitely won't need much, the lr will help too
don't clean it at all, just put it on the sand bed, if this is a new tank, jsut put the dry in, and the lr and cycle, then when complete, add the other sand from this other tank just a cup or 2 would be enough, but the more you use, the more life you may get to start it off
HTH

 

[crispcritr]

thank you all