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ctniners
02/20/2009, 08:06 AM
hello guys,
This is my issue, when I first cycled my tank (3 months ago) I put in my 28 gal nano cube 40 lbs of live CaribSea aragonite live sand.....but I made the mistake (newbie) to order the so called "Garf grunge" to help the cycling process, well this garf grunge was nothing but muddy rocks and detrius, now I cannot keep my sandbed shiny white because the grunge garbage keeps surfacing.....what I want to do is replace maybe 10 to 20 pounds of the front of the sand in the aquarium with 20 Lbs of the same CaribSea (I ordered too much when I first got my tank but I kept the extra 20 lb bag)

My question is, is this wise? can I just replace that much sand or will the new sand create problems to the parameters of the tank...right now everything is perfect, its just that it looks dirty.

I dont want to put the new sand on top because it reduces the living space and it leaves the grunge in there for it surface in a later date.


Thank you guys.

kraze3
02/20/2009, 08:55 AM
How deep is your sand bed?

ctniners
02/20/2009, 09:06 AM
right now is about 3.5"- 4"......when you look at my tank the rock work is in a U shape....they go from the left glass to back to the right of the tank...leaving like a U shape in front.....I want to remove as much of the sand that is in the U shape (visible area) but do not touch anything under or behind the rocks

ctniners
02/20/2009, 10:11 AM
^ have to bump...I need help

ctniners
02/20/2009, 03:29 PM
wow....things move really fast in here...has anyone ever replaced live sand from a bag directly to their aquarium?

Ron Popeil
02/20/2009, 04:00 PM
i replaced all of the sand in my 60 gallon in one sitting. i siphoned it all out and replaced the water removed with fresh saltwater.

i had some nitrates and phosphates for a while, but after two weeks they went down to 0.

my livestock was unaffected.

smspring
02/20/2009, 05:10 PM
I actually have the same problem... nasty stuff that I ordered when I cycled my tank and now it's floated to the top. I've been thinking about just scooping off the top layer with a fine net, a few times (to ensure the big/dark stuff is gone), then replacing with new sand.

ctniners
02/20/2009, 07:19 PM
are you going to buy sand in a bag and just put it in or are you going to your LFS and buy sand from an established aquarium?

smspring
02/20/2009, 10:01 PM
probably just sand in a bag, and let my existing sand seed the new.

GARFVolunteer
02/21/2009, 05:10 AM
I have done this in the past. Go to a craft store and get the plastic screen material for Latch Hooking. I built a sifting screen with it. Fill a 5 gallon bucket or a small tub 3/4 up with tank water. take out a couple cups of sand at a time and sift it while dipping it into the water to help with the sifting. The fine sand will go through the screen and the grunge and larger critters will not. Pick out the critters you see and want to keep then drop them into the bucket with the sand. I have done this a couple of times and it works well

This way you are not starting over again...

Thanks,

Scott

smspring
02/21/2009, 10:55 PM
Scott... fantastic idea, thanks for sharing.