Adding live sand

[Storey71]

Can I add live sand to normal ro water,without it being heated and salt added, until I add the rest of the water and salt.

 

[Reeferdood]

First off......

As far as your question,
you risk killing the bacteria this way, not advisable. Why would you want to do this anyway?

 

[Storey71]

I thought as not to add a full tank of water, then add salt,then sand and my tank overflows.

 

[Reeferdood]

Hmm, I am afraid I do not quite understand. Can you please rephrase your intentions?

 

[nickeg79]

Best to have your new water mixed and heated before adding it to the tank with rock/sand. Add some starter bacteria as well such as Fritx, Aquavitro Seed or BioSpira.

 

[Aquavaj]

Depending on how long it sits in freshwater some or all of the bacteria in the sand will die off. If you bought live sand that came in the bags then keep it in the bags until you're ready. If this is live sand from a tank taken down then I suggest just keep it in buckets, rinse it well and let it completely dry before you're ready to use. No point in trying to keep it "live" when you'll want to rinse it out for all the detritus anyways.

 

[Storey71]

Thanks for the replies. Bought new live sand in bags, so will wait until all water is in the tank, with salt and heated.