Old sand for deep sandbed

[ctsps]

I wanted to use sand thats been siting in an aquarium for months at room temp, will it still have benificial bacteria or not be worth the trouble, thanks

 

[Wy Renegade]

Has the tank been running or just sitting empty? If its empty, your bacteria levels will most likely be pretty nonexistent. You can rinse it very well in freshwater and use it as base sand, but it will need to be reseeded. Also some don't recommend reusing sand, as it can bind phosphates.

 

[ctsps]

Its been sitting in water but not moving water or heated

 

[CJO]

What was it doing before just sitting there?

CJ

 

[ctsps]

It was a reeftank

 

[CJO]

Well, as WY Renegade said, there isn't much chance of it having beneficial bacteria since it didn't have any food source. Worse, the sandbed has probably gone anoxic and it would take a LOT of rinsing for it to be useable in another tank. You'd be better off just getting some new sand and seeding it with some other established sand.

CJ

 

[ctsps]

thx,appreciate the help