Can i add sand

reef_cheif32 · Apr 12, 2015

My tank has been running for about 4 months and i was wondering if i can add more sand because during water changes i think i sucked up to much and did not even add enough to begin with.

howiedempster · Apr 12, 2015

How big is your tank

reef_cheif32 · Apr 12, 2015

55 gallons

howiedempster · Apr 12, 2015

What do you have in it

dmort · Apr 12, 2015

Unless you have livestock that requires it, there's no amount of sand you NEED to have. Its more appearance. Hopefully you have a bunch of live rock to house your bacteria!

If I wanted to add more sand, I'd turn off the pumps, let the water movement calm down, put the bag in the tank and cut it open under water so that it spills out with only an inch or two to fall as opposed to the 22 inches.

howiedempster · Apr 12, 2015

If you just have fish then you can and do you have rock in there

saltyphish · Apr 12, 2015

I would only add a little bit at a time. If you add to much you could cause a mini cycle.

reef_cheif32 · Apr 12, 2015

I have rock and fish in the tank and the sand is live so it has little stuff in it and now that i removed some accidently it is showing and does not look good. If i where to add more would i do live or regular

kendavjac · Apr 13, 2015

Just added some more to my 5 year old tank. Get a Big funnel and duct tape it to a 1" PVC pipe. You may have to cut the funnel outlet back some so that the funnel outlet is closer to the size of the pipe. Stick the pipe in the water about .5"- 1" above the sand bed and add sand via the funnel. You can move your pipe around the tank and target the areas that need more sand. If the sand gets stuck in funnel, just add some tank water to the funnel to get it flowing. Minimal sand storm in the tank.

reef_cheif32 · Apr 13, 2015

Live sand or regular sand

howiedempster · Apr 13, 2015

I would do a 50 50

Pete polyp · Apr 14, 2015

I put sand in my barebottom 40 after it had been setup for 8 months. I put 30 lbs tropic eden reef flake and just dumped it in. The water was cloudy for a day but it didn't cause any problem. Well, when I dumped it in my kole tang was under a rock and was trapped for 6 days. But that was the only problem I had with it

SeahorseKeeper · Apr 14, 2015

kendavjac said:
Just added some more to my 5 year old tank. Get a Big funnel and duct tape it to a 1" PVC pipe. You may have to cut the funnel outlet back some so that the funnel outlet is closer to the size of the pipe. Stick the pipe in the water about .5"- 1" above the sand bed and add sand via the funnel. You can move your pipe around the tank and target the areas that need more sand. If the sand gets stuck in funnel, just add some tank water to the funnel to get it flowing. Minimal sand storm in the tank.

This is exactly how I would add sand to an existing tank.