Adding Sand In Bare Bottom Tank

[dimik]

Hey All,

I've been cycling my 75G for a little over a month and it's stocked with 4 clowns. I've been contemplating on adding sand and switching away from bare bottom. Is it safe to add the sand now or should I just stick to bare bottom?

 

[Spare time]

You can add sand. If it is live sand, it might be a good idea to add some strong nitrifying products in case there is a little ammonia spike from the sand. It would also be a good idea to run some sort of clarifier during that. If you go with dry sand, be sure to rinse it well.

 

[daybreaksky]

It shouldn't throw anything off too much if you add it now, I've added sand to BB and removed sand in the past. But don't dump it, use a pipe to slowly and strategically add it where you want it because it will kick up lots of dust and stress the fish.

 

[Anubisxii]

I would add love sand and pick up a bottle of dr Tim's. Works like a charm.

 

[brandon429]

here is how to do it without extra bac:

rinse whatever sand you get with tap water for an hour until it runs clear. perfectly clear, regardless of what kind of sand you get

when its snowglobe clear, not 99.999% but snowglobe 100% clear grains, final rinse is RO water to evacuate the tap you used to rinse it all prior

add it to your tank

grains fall harmlessly.


you dont need existing bacteria added to, you aren't adding fish here and even if you added fish, your current live rock handles many more if you've already got four. In no way is bottled bac necessary for this job, cloudlessness is necessary

you only need more bacteria if your current surface area is low, and with live rocks its never low.

adding inert surfaces picks up bac, free, from the current bac-laden surfaces. there is an onslaught of posts cross-selling bottled bacteria they're millionaires off what forum posters spend and promote for its required use


bacteria never, ever do unpredictable things where you must buy someone's retail product to be reef-safe, not ever.

I like to use bottle bac when starting new dry rocks, thats indicated for sure.

There isnt any time a running reef tank requires bacteria to be added to it from a bottle, though. perhaps if you are changing out all existing rocks for totally dry, but we dont see those jobs very often.

 

[brandon429]

to close out elitist bac rant lol

this tank also demonstrates updated rules on how cycles work

OP will be adding neutral surface area to existing surface area carrying fish, doing just fine. What's added takes on new bacteria in 20 days simply by being next to active surfaces, without extra feed new bacteria expand out from the old colonies as those remain, and take new ground because uncolonized ground was placed in tank, in 20 days already measured in other threads where we tested that separate dry material on its own.

no extra feed, no extra bac dosing needed, the new inert materials fully take on Free bacteria by day 20 already tested.

all reefs work this way none vary.

*you can also instantly remove all this sand all at once any time you want, as you do not have a deficit of bacteria now nor in the future, and without sand that you didnt need, you still wont be in deficit

if you take any running reef on this board and hook up six canister filters from wal mart, in a month six new cycled items are inline. removing them means nothing, you're back to square one though each one can oxidize waste on its own if required, this is how water bacteria transmit and land in flow + surface area catch setups.

100% of poll respondents would say your system adapts to the new sand inextricably, and that's not the case at all, its opposite. you can add the sand and get free bac, or remove them and go right back to where you are now, it already carries a fish bioload and reverts back anytime you want

(this science runs the 50 page sand rinse/removal thread, already tested)

whether or not a sand vs bare bottom reef is preferable, choose your side both have pros and cons.

I myself keep a six inch deep sand bed, but its snowglobe not funked out

you w need to clean that sand somehow, assertively at times. but i like the looks of sand always.

 

[dimik]

here is how to do it without extra bac:

rinse whatever sand you get with tap water for an hour until it runs clear. perfectly clear, regardless of what kind of sand you get

when its snowglobe clear, not 99.999% but snowglobe 100% clear grains, final rinse is RO water to evacuate the tap you used to rinse it all prior

add it to your tank

grains fall harmlessly.


you dont need existing bacteria added to, you aren't adding fish here and even if you added fish, your current live rock handles many more if you've already got four. In no way is bottled bac necessary for this job, cloudlessness is necessary

you only need more bacteria if your current surface area is low, and with live rocks its never low.

adding inert surfaces picks up bac, free, from the current bac-laden surfaces. there is an onslaught of posts cross-selling bottled bacteria they're millionaires off what forum posters spend and promote for its required use


bacteria never, ever do unpredictable things where you must buy someone's retail product to be reef-safe, not ever.

I like to use bottle bac when starting new dry rocks, thats indicated for sure.

There isnt any time a running reef tank requires bacteria to be added to it from a bottle, though. perhaps if you are changing out all existing rocks for totally dry, but we dont see those jobs very often.

Thanks for the feedback. Won't I run into chlorine problems rinsing it using my sink?

 

[ScubaFish802]

Caribsea live sand comes with an awesome clarifier. Mine cleared up over night

 

[brandon429]

check this out

page one, ten reefs that tried the clarifier note outcomes

after page one, tens of pages of tap rinsing to see if chlorine harms


*chlorine harms if your bacteria were required

what you are adding is sand, you dont need its bacteria or your current reef would be dead

understanding that your current system has all the bacteria it will ever need realigns how you think about future purchases of bottle bac, sand, six extra canister filters etc

check out what I edited in above about the canister filters in prior post, that analogy matches the same as you adding and removing sand.

in this thread we remove entire sandbeds, all at once, from complete reefs with no ramp down.

live rocks are always, always enough bacteria and that's what you already have.

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...

www.reef2reef.com

our minds simply cannot fathom, grasp or agree to the fact that sandbed bacteria are not required or important in any reef tank, but there it is for five years for outcome pattern checking.

the reason to know all that is to save money and do exactly what you want with your reef without loss, or anyone else's reef without loss. we can add, subtract, double, remove completely, mix, or remove any sandbed in any reef tank here instantly if its done a certain way to avoid clouding, because no reef tank on this entire site requires its sandbed bacteria, they're mere extras taking 02

 

[Spare time]

The idea of adding nitrifyiers is that when you add live sand to a tank, you are adding a lot of oxygen that will fuel the decomposition of what organic matter may be in the bag. That decomposition may result in an ammonia spike.

Of course if it is dry rinsed sand isn't going to have this problem. I was sort of alluding to the idea that the dry sand may be better in this case since the tank is post initial cycle and that live sand can lead to a small ammonia spike.

 

[MERKEY]

Rinse rinse rinse and add!

@brandon429 has the work to prove the statements.....just make sure its completely clear after rinsing and you're all good.

I will play devils advocate as we just removed all of our sand and went bare bottom. Sand can become a pain to keep clean and keeps nasties hidden deep.

Why add sand lol

 

[dimik]

Rinse rinse rinse and add!

@brandon429 has the work to prove the statements.....just make sure its completely clear after rinsing and you're all good.

I will play devils advocate as we just removed all of our sand and went bare bottom. Sand can become a pain to keep clean and keeps nasties hidden deep.

Why add sand lol

lol bare bottom is what I like too but there are some fish and starfish I wish I could stock. Not possible without the sand.

 

[Grill]

adding sand to established reef tank