Changing out sandbed: how long to wait?

ATLe46 · 03-30-2004, 10:35 AM

I took out my sandbed last Friday night. It wasn't a DSB, just an inch or two of crushed coral that I've had for a few years. It was pretty nasty.

I've got a bag of SD that I want to add now, but I was curious to know if I should wait a certain amount of time before adding it or just throw it in now.

Thanks!

coralph · 03-30-2004, 12:23 PM

You should have saved some coral in a nylon bag to bury in sand and seed it.I do not have any advice other than getting some live sand from someone and using that to seed your tank.

Reefdude5 · 03-30-2004, 01:28 PM

It's Okay, the LR will seed it, you don't NEED LS to seed it. I would wait a while to make sure LR is not producing detritus though.

Geoff · 03-30-2004, 02:33 PM

southdown is wicked light in weight. it will blow all over place when you try and place it in the aquarium. it will not settle down for a good month when it finally gets heavy from bacterial colonization.

any amount of flow will kick it up for that first month.

it is not called a Southdown Milkshake for nothing.

G~

yardboy · 03-30-2004, 02:44 PM

Ohhhhh, yucky.
How about the "Pure Caribbean Aragonite" sold by our sponsor, does it make a milkshake? I'm not above rinsing it to get the finest grains out before I put it in. I do not want to wait that long to put anything in the tank.

ATLe46 · 03-30-2004, 02:57 PM

Thanks for the help. I've already borrowed someone else's idea of pouring the sand in thru a pvc pipe so that its not pouring all over the tank.

But back to my original question, how long (if at all) do I need to wait before adding the SD since I just took my old sand out? A few days, a month, etc?

Geoff · 03-30-2004, 09:37 PM

if you are waiting for all of the detritus to fall out of the rocks than it could take several months. mine is finally starting to slow down. i removed my DSB 3 months ago!

if this is not your plan than there is no reason to wait, unless you want to. the sand is dead, so there will not be another cycle. the only way you will get a cycle is if you cover up some of the rocks and cause the stuff in the rocks to die.

is this what you are asking?

G~

ATLe46 · 03-31-2004, 08:58 AM

Yes. Thanks Geoff!