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View Full Version : Adding sand to system?


sidneybrooksjr
04/19/2006, 08:39 AM
What's the best way to add sand to a system that's already running?

Gooli
04/19/2006, 09:53 AM
is it bare bottom now?

coker98
04/19/2006, 09:56 AM
rinse the sand and try to transfer it in there. if it is prerinsed then while the bag is in the water cut a corner and release it under water as close to the bottom of the tank as you cant get and shut off the power heads for about 10 minutes.

WaterKeeper
04/19/2006, 10:11 AM
Sidney,

If you are talking about LS you can add it to the main tank. It usually only causes a minor cycle which won't hurt anything. Many people mix it with SW and use a funnel with a hose attached to add it to the bed. This will work with LS or plain sand. When adding plain sand to a DSB only add about a ¼ inch at a time. This allow the "bugs" on the LS to migrate without crushing of suffocating them.

Recife
04/19/2006, 11:23 AM
Funny you mention this suffocating part, Waterkeeper.
I said that to friends a couple of weeks ago and they laughed at me as if I were saying the most stupid thing.
I added the sand gradually anyway. Glad I did it now.

Recife
04/19/2006, 11:26 AM
oops... forgot to say that i used a PVC pipe to add it. But since the sand had been rinsed, it was clogging up the funnel and not going down the pipe. So I used a cup to throw tank water into the funnel to "dissolve" the sand and it worked perfectly.
The water will get a bit cloudy but will be back to normal in an hour or 2.