Bare bottom to sand

[TxReefer21]

Just wondering how difficult it’ll be for me to go from bare bottom to sand in my fluval evo 13.5 I have a clown and six line for fish. For coral I have a hammer frog spawn carpet mushroom Kenya tree couple of candy canes riccordea Duncan coral. Do I drain water completely place my rocks where my coral are into the drained water in like a bucket and place sand in tank then put rocks back in place and fill up with half old water half new?? Thanks for any tips you give me

 

[T-J]

Really not that hard, and you don't have to drain your tank at all.
Use a large piece of PVC pipe and use it to pour the sand on the bottom and place it around the rockwork.

 

[TxReefer21]

Really not that hard, and you don't have to drain your tank at all.
Use a large piece of PVC pipe and use it to pour the sand on the bottom and place it around the rockwork.

Like I 5 inch across pvc pipe ? Lol I don’t want to use anything to small. Knowing me trying to pour the sand through the smaller pvc hole I’d miss some and it be a mess

 

[tippin.turtle]

Just curious why you're choosing sand now?

 

[TxReefer21]

Just curious why you're choosing sand now?

To me it just looks more natural I’ve done bare bottom for awhile. I’ve actually never had sand in any of my saltwater tanks so a change up would be cool. I still like bare bottom but I want to give the sand a go

 

[tippin.turtle]

To me it just looks more natural I’ve done bare bottom for awhile. I’ve actually never had sand in any of my saltwater tanks so a change up would be cool. I still like bare bottom but I want to give the sand a go

Right on! I imagine sand would be an extra benefit with such a small tank volume. Any place to leverage beneficial bacteria is surely a plus.

 

[TxReefer21]

Right on! I imagine sand would be an extra benefit with such a small tank volume. Any place to leverage beneficial bacteria is surely a plus.

Absolutely. I think I’m going to try the pvc method just cause it sounds like the best way to not be so messy. Any recommendations on sand ? Live sand ?

 

[tippin.turtle]

Absolutely. I think I’m going to try the pvc method just cause it sounds like the best way to not be so messy. Any recommendations on sand ? Live sand ?

I'm running bare bottom currently but my sand preference is coarse sand not fine as its less likely to get blown around.

 

[BostonReefer300]

I'd highly recommend thoroughly rinsing the sand before you use it, otherwise you're going to end up with a huge sandstorm even if you do the PVC method. It's not the end of the world and will settle down after a couple hours, but it'll coat everything in dust and dust will always be a problem anytime you mess with the sand. Use a coarse filter sock and tap water followed by a RODI water rinse. Don't bother with live sand if you're going to rinse---just whatever dry type you like from Caribsea, etc. I like their special grade aragonite as I find it to be the right size for any creatures that like sand without being too small so it doesn't get blown all around. Have fun

 

[BadPanda]

just use a cheap funnel if you're worried about being being messy.

 

[zalick]

Use special grade size sand. Anything finer and you’ll probably have sandstorm issues.

I’ve added sand to bare bottom and sand to existing many times now. 60lbs was my last addition a couple months back.
I’ve used the PVC and funnel method for sand that is dry.

my preferred method for wet rinsed sand is to scoop it up in a cup, gently put the cup in the tank and then pour it where you want. Since my tanks are large, I use a 2 gallon pitcher and not a cup.

I will pour it in piles in the general area and then spread out.

 

[brandon429]

if you skip the tap pre rinse above/you will see that your reef is mad for a good while, any slight motion causes a cloud

in fact after you complete the first pre rinse, hit it again as most won't rinse well enough first round they're too worried about bacteria they do not need.

if you input sand pre rinsed so well it looks like snowglobe grains, your reef will no skip a beat at all.

 

[jose hernandez]

Wont putting sand in a barebottom cause problems I was thinking about doin the same but my set up is 200 gallons

 

[TxReefer21]

Wont putting sand in a barebottom cause problems I was thinking about doin the same but my set up is 200 gallons

Doing it on a 200g may be difficult mines 13.5 lol

 

[zalick]

Wont putting sand in a barebottom cause problems I was thinking about doin the same but my set up is 200 gallons

Not if you do it on stages. You may get some diatoms or a little algae on the sand. But it disappears fast.

I’d do two stages for you tank. In my 300g I did three stages.

 

[Ocean’s Piece]

I'd highly recommend thoroughly rinsing the sand before you use it, otherwise you're going to end up with a huge sandstorm even if you do the PVC method. It's not the end of the world and will settle down after a couple hours, but it'll coat everything in dust and dust will always be a problem anytime you mess with the sand. Use a coarse filter sock and tap water followed by a RODI water rinse. Don't bother with live sand if you're going to rinse---just whatever dry type you like from Caribsea, etc. I like their special grade aragonite as I find it to be the right size for any creatures that like sand without being too small so it doesn't get blown all around. Have fun

As someone who didn't rinse their sand before putting it in, I second this. Probably number one mistake I made. I have had a terrible cyano and diatom bloom on and I still do (tank is 4 months) but now it's on the tail end. I can't siphon my sandbed during a water change without a huge outbreak. So even if this is a no brainer, don't forget to do this

 

[brandon429]

if the sand is simply rinsed then adding it all at once won't matter, its just tumbling grains with no silt. dump it all in, but be triply clean/fair warning

 

[Kai K]

The best way, IMHO, is to put your washed sand in clean plastic soda bottle. Then let the water fill up the bottle in the aquarium and carefully turn the bottle around, now with the opening facing down. The sand will now flow out with a steady pace at any place where you direct it. At the same time, a flow of water runs back into the bottle, replacing the volume of the sand that falls out, preventing the misty tiny partlicles to enter your tank. With this method it's perfectly possible to lay down a sandbed without any clouding of the water.
Just remember to discard the water that has entered the bottle after all the sand is out.