Sanbed Help

[krucial]

Hello guys,
i wanted to ask a simple question but I just want to verify before i actually do it. I have a 56 gallon SPS dominated tank with a 25 gallon sump. I have not been satisfied with the amount of sand that I have in it, I wanted to actually add about 25-30 pounds of Live sand to make it a deep sandbed. My question is, I have new Bio-active live sand and thats what I am planning to add. would it be fine to introduce this to my aquarium without a drastic cycle? any suggestions?
Thanks for the help.

[jayray]

FWIW I would just add dry sand, I have never liked the bio active "live sand" nor gained anything from it. From what I have seen out of the packaged stuff there isn't much life in there. If it was sand from a running system I'd say go for it (pending a trustworthy source and QT).
J

[dmilne85]

i think you will be fine. I actually find the livesand is much cleaner and doesnt need to be rinsed of the silt, so for your purposes that will be good. If it were me when i add the sand i would build a devise that resemebles a "beer bong" so you can funnel the sand in at the top above your tank and then have the piping run to the bottom of sand bed and you can direct it and avoid stirring up your tank.

[Fisher72]

I would think you'll be ok, you may want to add it over a few weeks.

[DaveJ]

Depends on the depth of the sand in the tank now and how much you will end up putting over it. If the depth is being increased by 1" or less, you should be fine. If it will be more, it could 'smoother' the sand and cause a small spike or mini cycle, or it could not. From Dr Ron's old posts on DSB's he always recommended adding sand over time in 1/2" intervals to allow the old sand to populate the new.

As far as the type of sand.. the 'live' sand in a bag isn't really live unless its been shipped and stored in cool temps. Heat would kill the bacteria and if its been on the shelf for a long time, same story. If you open it and it smells really nasty, I would just rinse it in saltwater first, then put it in.

DSB's need to be at least 4"-7 inches to be true denitrification beds and they need to be a sufficient square footage. Putting 5" in a 12"x12" section for example won't do much of anything other than look deep and may actually end up being a nitrate and PO4 sink. Remember that any sand that is not exposed to the water column, ie no rocks on top, will be an active DSB. Anything covered will end up a dead zone.