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View Full Version : How many cups of "good" sand?


t5Nitro
12/27/2006, 03:28 PM
I will be transfering my 46 gallon tank to a 125 gallon tank. When I do so, I will be buying all new "not live" sand and was curious to know how many cups of "live" sand to put in the 125 to cause no cycle, just enough to seed it. Thanks :D

Also, can I ask your opinions on tank/stand color? Which would you pick?
1) Oak
2) Maple

BurntOutReefer
12/27/2006, 03:35 PM
you will get a cycle......
"seeding" sand is for pods, etc...and not really for nitrosommas....
IMO...even if you put alll the sand in, you'll still get a cycle.

Oak.

sir_dudeguy
12/27/2006, 03:35 PM
I'd put like 2 or 3 glasses of ls in there. But i'd put it all in one spot. Otherwise it might take longer if you mix it in. idk..just my opinion

as for stand color...i like maple better...but would your choices extend to cherry too? Cuz cherry colored wood is my favorite (besides rosewood)

papagimp
12/27/2006, 03:41 PM
a cup is all you would need, feel free to add more though. When you remove the current "stuff" from your tank and move it to a new tank, this alone can cause a cycle, and then adding all new sand, well think of it this way, all the old sand was filled with beneficial bacteria that will no longer be there, it's like cutting your filtering power in half.

t5Nitro
12/27/2006, 03:49 PM
Well, I need to transfer the 46 to the 125 in 1 day, or maybe 2 if the cloudiness doesn't disappear that quick. I will buy not live sand and put that in ther with a few cups of my old sand, the stuff only has to be transfered out of the tank for about 5 feet and it's in the new 125, stuff shouldn't die off very much.

papagimp
12/27/2006, 04:15 PM
It's not the dieoff that will cause much cycling, it's the added ammonia and nitrates and other "stuff" that will be kicked up from the old sandbed. That and the lack of beneficial bacteria in the new tank, even with the old rock in there you are still leaving out all the bacteria on the sandbed. This alone can cause a cycle. Less bacteria means the bacteria you will have cannot process all of the ammonia released from the fishies, therefore cannot process all the nitrite either. Your best bet would be to let the new tank cycle before adding any livestock but it doesn't sound like you are going that route. Good luck and hopefully any cycle you get will be minimal, test water often and water change as any ammonia and nitrite pop up.

t5Nitro
12/27/2006, 04:22 PM
Can you put in new not live sand and a little water covering it with no lights or anything to let it cycle? I can't afford to run two tanks, I would only do this for about a week tops.

papagimp
12/27/2006, 05:01 PM
cycling a tank would actually consist of the bare minimum. A powerhead for current is all you'd really need. But it usually takes alot longer than one week, but depending on the amount of live rock you are using it may be sufficient to cycle quicker. You'd also need more than just a little water covering it. The beneficial bacteria that we need to "cycle" our tanks is everywhere in the tank, the water, sand, glass, rock. Just most of it accumulates on the rock and/or sand, due to porosity of those things. Glass on the other hand isn't very porous so not much there.

What kind of livestock do you currently have? If it's a small load of fish than may be okay. But personally, heres what I would do: Transfer what you want to, leave the fish in their current tank with the old sand. If you have an airstone or powerhead with prefilter, leave that going in there so they don't die on ya. Keep checking there water quality and perform water changes as needed. Basically treating the 46g as a QT tank for the moment. Then on the large tank, stick in all the rock and sand you want to, and wait a week minimum, check the water quality there as well, you may see a small cycle that comes and goes in a couple days or so if you are lucky. I've had some tanks cycle in less time than that, with proper addition of live rock and live sand.
If you do not have any corals then put the light on the new tank, the fish arn't really going to derive any "benefit" from the lighting. Ambient room light would suffice while there in "waiting". If you do have corals, keep the light with them in the tank with the fish.

I'm just concerned over your livestock getting put in a new tank and all dying. It would be a tragedy that could have easily been avoided.

You may think you can't afford to run two tanks, but if you think about it, to cycle a tank isn't going to phase the pocket book much at all. In fact, you can get away with water changes by using the water you pull from the 46g during those water changes. The used water will have bacteria as well as the some of that tanks bioload to help speed up the cycling process and maturation of the new tank. Jsut filling it up with water and sand and letting the water move around isn't expensive. This is exactly how I just set mymothers 55g tank up. I filled with water, dead sand, dead rock, and put a cycled powerfilter on the back. Used my 55g tanks water to do water changes on the new tank, i never saw a cycle and after about 2 weeks i introduced a couple of fish, no cycle still. And just recetnly got it completed. I never noticed a cycle of anykind, I figured I missed it during my lapses in water testing. She did have about 20lbs of live rock in there and maybe 5lbs of live sand stuck directly on top of the new stuff. This helps. But for what it's worth, and sorry for all the rambling, I did notice a massive increase in nitrates. Which I remedied by doing a very large water change (90%) prior to introducing livestock.

Best of luck and feel free to hollar if anything wierd happens and you start to freak out! (like us reefers tend to do when things happen in our tanks)

t5Nitro
12/27/2006, 05:32 PM
So, this is what I should do?
(I have coral, I want to keep the live rock in my tank until it can all go over)
So what would be in the new 125 tank will be as follows:
Deep sand bed (new not live sand with a few cups of my live sand)
Water maybe to half way to 3/4 full, and when I water change the 46 I will put that 4-5 gallons in the 125.
1 seio 620 to get the water moving a small bit
Do you need a heater in there while it's cycling?
If so that's what it will be and I can probably do that.
Do you need to do water changes on the new tank while cycling?
If so, that's what I don't want to do is do 2 water changes everytime and one now being a lot larger than the 46 gallon.
So all in all in the new tank during cycle.
Deep sand bed:few cups live sand
seio 620
water and throw in a bucket of the 46 gallon water.
Will this work and let it sit for a bit? Remember no heater, I could have a small heater in it if it needs one.

sticky
12/27/2006, 10:03 PM
I have switched out 75 gallons to 75's and a 75 to a 180. I did it all in one day with using as much of the old water along with new to make up the difference. New sand with the old liverock. I seeded the new sand with a cup of old sand. I never had an issue and I have done that three times with a very large bioload...both fish and corals. Plan for the worst. Have tubs and extra water, heaters and pumps on hand. And if all else fails your corals and fish could check into my hotel until their new home would be ready. You will not have a problem doing the switch....it will be a very long day though. Good luck.

AndyB4784
12/27/2006, 10:15 PM
how old was your old sand? if it's not that old (less than 3 months) i would use it all. If it is older than that i would use the top inch of sand from the tank.

t5Nitro
12/27/2006, 10:24 PM
I think it is around 5 months old, I will just use a cup of it.