Im about to switch over my 50 gal to a oceanic 110 gal reef ready tank. The previous owner had live sand in it as a reef tank, but for the last month used it as a lake tank with bass in it. Can I still use this sand in my tank which will be a fish only sw tank. Should I rinse the sand? Also how do you clean the sand? Im use to using crushed coral. Seems like the sand would just go right up a syphon tube.
sand question
- Thread starter dogface
- Start date
Germanman
My fish are my babies
that would mean it went from slat to fresh? all have to do is clean it and u should be fine as long as u didnt use any copper with it.
dont use crushed coral.... there are many people who have experienced its problems... after a while it becomes an absolute nitrate factory... or at least so i hear. Sand would go right up a syphon tube, but thats why u dont vaccum it. Sand can be left alone, just as it is. Vaccuming sand kills off most of the live bacteria that makes it beneficial to the tank.
-Jay
-Jay
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rinsing sand in tap water is just going to introduce phosphates and nitrates which will get trapped in the sand bed and will take an age to remove through normal tank running...personally, i woul buy new sand..
Niko
Niko
Germanman
My fish are my babies
rinse it with RO water is best and hot is better...i have always used tap though for rinsing and had no issues what so ever..but it depends on the tap water really.
Look, the reality is that you don't really know what is in the sand, even if you flush it for hours using ro or what not, it could potentially leach anything (copper, metal, silica..). And considering the cost of sand (or super fine aragonite) and the cost of one fish, or worse, the angst of watching helplessly as a fish dies for no apparent reason, it is one variable that is best left out.
Germanman
My fish are my babies