Best way to add sand?

[Davy Jones]

Tank had sand when i set it up, when i moved about a year ago i got rid of the sand. Since then the tank hasnt been the same and i just miss the look of the sand to be honest.

So this question is twofold.

1. How do i add the sand without the huge cloudy mess that usually happens? and how do i keep it off the rocks and coral and all that stuff when putting it in the tank while the tank has water?

2. What are some reccomendations for sand as not all of it is the same? Pros\cons?

Thanks!

 

[Hyde2406]

You could get a long piece of pvc and slowly add it through there. Like the do with clowns into an anemone. But I've never tried it just speculation

 

[Davy Jones]

You could get a long piece of pvc and slowly add it through there. Like the do with clowns into an anemone. But I've never tried it just speculation

That makes a lot of sense, i kind of like that idea!

 

[mcarroll]

Washing the sand in a bucket with a garden hose while agitating the sand until the water runs clear is the only answer to cloudiness.

I buy bagged "live" sand just to avoid all the hassle and mess. It only clouds the water slightly and for a little while. $$ for effort....worth it in this case, IMO.

Ditto the PVC pipe idea if you need to be neat about actual placement of the sand.

However any sand you get on the rocks can generally be waved off with a swipe or two of your hand over the rocks.....usually no big deal.

And how about going bare bottom instead of sand? I'd at least try it if you've never kept a tank that way.

 

[Davy Jones]

Washing the sand in a bucket with a garden hose while agitating the sand until the water runs clear is the only answer to cloudiness.

I buy bagged "live" sand just to avoid all the hassle and mess. It only clouds the water slightly and for a little while. $$ for effort....worth it in this case, IMO.

Ditto the PVC pipe idea if you need to be neat about actual placement of the sand.

However any sand you get on the rocks can generally be waved off with a swipe or two of your hand over the rocks.....usually no big deal.

And how about going bare bottom instead of sand? I'd at least try it if you've never kept a tank that way.

Ive been bare bottom since may of last year, and although i liked it at first and like how easy it is to suck up the detritus and see exactly where it is i ultimately miss the look of the sandbed. and i miss being able to have gobies and other sand dwelling creatures as well.

Do i need to be concerned about any sort of bacterial bloom and the like when adding live sand to a system? I dont have to be perfect with the sand haha i just dont want to open the bag and dump it over everything lol

 

[mcarroll]

Not usually, if it's dry, washed sand. calcium carbonate particles can adsorb PO4 though, so it's possible that your numbers might change a bit after adding a large quantity.

As with most things reef: Go slow. Maybe just add a gallon or scoop of sand per day?

Or at the very least, test before and after adding the sand – if you find that dissolved PO4 has crashed to zero, just be prepared to do something about it. Zero PO4 can be a shock to corals and it can trigger very unwanted behaviors in some algae – especially generation of toxins.

Having a small bottle of phosphate fertilizer (or at least knowing where you could get one on short notice) that you can make tiny doses from for a day or two would be the easiest solution IF that comes to pass. (You may not see than happen, and there may even be enough new PO4 going into the system every day that whatever gets adsorbed won't even be missed.)

 

[Davy Jones]

Not usually, if it's dry, washed sand. calcium carbonate particles can adsorb PO4 though, so it's possible that your numbers might change a bit after adding a large quantity.

As with most things reef: Go slow. Maybe just add a gallon or scoop of sand per day?

If its "live sand" wont it be wet and "filled with bacteria"? Ive never purchased dry sand before.

I plan on only doing a couple pounds a day to hopefully not cause any sort of shock.

 

[colesjensen]

What I do with live sand is put the bag in the tank and rest in on the bottom. Then I cut it open and slowly poor it out

 

[Davy Jones]

What I do with live sand is put the bag in the tank and rest in on the bottom. Then I cut it open and slowly poor it out

How does that work with rock and coral? I wont be able to lay the bag down flat in the tank, i dont have that much open space lol

 

[colesjensen]

How does that work with rock and coral? I wont be able to lay the bag down flat in the tank, i dont have that much open space lol

Yeah that makes it a little harder XD
That pvc pipe idea is probably your best bet. I've used it to add more sand to my tank

 

[mcarroll]

If its "live sand" wont it be wet and "filled with bacteria"? Ive never purchased dry sand before.

I plan on only doing a couple pounds a day to hopefully not cause any sort of shock.

Not the bagged stuff. If that's what you're buying I wouldn't worry about it much.

Adding the dry bagged sand without washing will make your tank cloudy for days and days and days potentially. A totally different story.

With the bagged "live" sand you can measure the period of cloudiness in hours.

At most do the PVC pipe trick....but wet sand really doesn't pour all that well. I'd try to manage a trick something like @colesjensen mentioned. Somehow get the whole bag into the tank and cut it open vs pouring from outside the tank.

Any chance there's a rock that could temporarily come out to give you at least "enough" maneuvering room?

 

[mcarroll]

I plan on only doing a couple pounds a day to hopefully not cause any sort of shock.

+1

 

[don_chuwish]

Tropic Eden Reefflakes are famously less clouding than others. I'm very happy to have used it. No need for 'live' sand in my opinion.
And yes, you should still rinse thoroughly. If I'm adding to a full tank I just scoop it in with an empty yogurt container. Gently submerge it until you get to the bottom and then slowly empty it out. I like the PVC tube idea too, but you'll need some kind of funnel...

 

[Davy Jones]

Tropic Eden Reefflakes are famously less clouding than others. I'm very happy to have used it. No need for 'live' sand in my opinion.
And yes, you should still rinse thoroughly. If I'm adding to a full tank I just scoop it in with an empty yogurt container. Gently submerge it until you get to the bottom and then slowly empty it out. I like the PVC tube idea too, but you'll need some kind of funnel...

Good to know on the tropic eden flakes!

 

[2Wheelsonly]

If you do pvc make sure it's larger diameter so sand doesn't get clogged as it gets wet.

You could also use small sandwhich bags fill them with dry sand and place them on the bottom and then slowly poor the sand out one at a time.