Shallow (1/2") to Deep Sand Bed (4") mistake

[sprungson]

Hi All,

First of all, I feel stupid for making this mistake. I was reading the long sand bed thread, where they said to add small amounts of sand every few days, and then i watched this youtube video (waterbox basically adding 50 lbs of sand at once), and I figured it made sense chemistry wise since I am using living sand, So i went ahead and added 60 lbs of live sand to my existing 1/2" (originally 20 lbs, but probably 10lbs now with all the siphoning in the last year) sand bed to make a deep sand bed. Now, I watched New York Steelo's video in that if i trap the old sandbed, I can kill off the fauna and it will release hydrogen Sulfide. I need everyone's help to give advice on what I can do.

• Should I just leave it alone and not touch the sand bed?
• Can I stir the sandbed every few hours - Would that help mix the old and new and minimize the death of the fauna?

Sorry for this, since information was convoluted and contradicting, so I didn't get the complete picture until I already made the mistake

Also, an important question -- My dog and me sleeps in the bedroom with the aquarium, could the hydrogen sulfide potentially harm and kill us? Or not enough amount to harm us.

 

[sprungson]

@brandon429 Hi Brandon, I initially read your thread on DSB. Would you be able to advise me here?

 

[sprungson]

Anybody?

 

[CoralClasher]

Your new sand will seed into the old bed just fine. I just did this last month with Garf Grunge and everything is looking great.

 

[bobssecrtsn]

your old existing sand was not deep enough to cause any damage. I would not touch it,

 

[CoralClasher]

What kind of live sand did you add?

 

[sprungson]

What kind of live sand did you add?

Thank you for your help! I added caribisea arag-alive

 

[CoralClasher]

That stuff isn’t full of life. You should definitely add some live sand activator!

 

[xxkenny90xx]

That stuff isn’t full of life. You should definitely add some live sand activator!

Ya I agree, if it's a bag of "live" sand that's been sitting on a shelf at a fish store I'd suspect it's full of death. That's fine to cycle a brand new tank but if you added it to a running tank with fish in it then I'd keep a close eye on ammonia and other parameters.

 

[CoralClasher]

How did the live stock react to the new sand? Is everyone still alive?

 

[sprungson]

How did the live stock react to the new sand? Is everyone still alive?

Yes it's been 18 hours and everything is still alive and acting normal. I have a lot of live rock and 3 blocks of marine pure in sump.

 

[CoralClasher]

I think you will be fine just keep oxygen pumping in from outside air and now that the sand is deep I wouldn’t mess with it too much just let it do it’s thing for a while.

 

[kyleinpdx]

I think you’ll be just fine. If you don’t already have one, invest the $20-50 in a nice “python style” siphon and hose setup. Siphon your sandbed to stir it up while doing your water changes and life should continue as normal.

What you don’t want to do is take a nasty sandbed with years worth of detritus and decaying organic material and cover it and let it set.

A few inches stirred periodically will work just fine!

 

[sprungson]

I think you’ll be just fine. If you don’t already have one, invest the $20-50 in a nice “python style” siphon and hose setup. Siphon your sandbed to stir it up while doing your water changes and life should continue as normal.

What you don’t want to do is take a nasty sandbed with years worth of detritus and decaying organic material and cover it and let it set.

A few inches stirred periodically will work just fine!

Hi, I have a phython style siphon and i was siphoning when my sand bed was ~1/2". I thought you should not siphon a deep sand bed of 4" or more. Are you saying i should stir up my entire sand bad (4") when i do water changes or just the top layer?

 

[CoralClasher]

Is there a reason you wanted a deeper sand bed?

 

[sprungson]

Is there a reason you wanted a deeper sand bed?

Yeah, i tend to like livestock that requires a deeper sandbed (Carpet anemones, wrasses, jawfishes, and etc). I also like the the way it looks. I did not do it for the natural nitrate reduction.

 

[CoralClasher]

I added a deep sand bed refugium 1 1/2 years ago and haven’t touched it since. The sand in my refuge looks way better than the 1/2 inch sand in my DT that I siphoned weekly, sometimes daily. I have been adding live sand to my DT and planning on three to four inches that I will not siphon just stick stirring occasionally.

 

[sprungson]

I added a deep sand bed refugium 1 1/2 years ago and haven’t touched it since. The sand in my refuge looks way better than the 1/2 inch sand in my DT that I siphoned weekly, sometimes daily. I have been adding live sand to my DT and planning on three to four inches that I will not siphon just stick stirring occasionally.

What's the difference between siphoning to create a stir effect and stirring? Do i just take a rod and stir in a few areas?

 

[CoralClasher]

Siphon can cause too much disturbance. I just act like a wrasse stir up a little at a time. I don’t usually run any mechanical filters so I don’t do too much at one time.

 

[kyleinpdx]

Hi, I have a phython style siphon and i was siphoning when my sand bed was ~1/2". I thought you should not siphon a deep sand bed of 4" or more. Are you saying i should stir up my entire sand bad (4") when i do water changes or just the top layer?

You dont want to mix 100% of it all of the time, no. Buuuut....

This is a hotly debated topic, and a lot of people have opinions, some I think harken back to the "dark ages" of reefing, where we were equipment limited not necessarily knowledge limited.

In my opinion 4" isnt all that deep but if you look at the people who are having success, such as Paul B's "reverse undergravel" or Lasse's sandbed plenum, they're having success because the sandbed does not become stagnant.