replacing a sand bed

[drew1092]

I recently had my first blue green algae outbreak and want it gone! Dont worry, not another "how to get rid of cyano" questions I have read a lot of info about that. What I am planning, among several ideas, is siphoning out the sand where it is encroaching. I plan on doing a 30% or 10 gallon water change tomorrow, sucking out infested sand with it. Over next few water changes suck out all discolored sand in the tank. I was stirring my bed, but the ugly browns just kept coming back.

So how do I replace the sand after I am done? Are there any special techniques? I would at the same time like to make the bed a little deeper. Also, I have about 20 pounds of left over sand from when I set up the tank. Thought I didnt need it so I just drained the water and put it out on the porch for 2+ months. Is that sand still usable? I was hoping I could just rinse it and still use it rather than buying new sand. Thanks!

[Elegance Coral]

You should be fine with just rinsing the sand on your porch very well, then adding it to the tank.

Stirring a sand bed helps, but most of the detritus just settles back into the sand. If you use a gravel vac during water changes, you are actually removing the detritus.

There are many techniques for putting sand into an established tank. I usually turn off all pumps and lower the water level in the tank enough to compensate for the new sand. Then get a large cup, like a big gulp cup, and fill it with sand. I slowly move the cup to the bottom of the tank and slowly pore the sand out. It does make the water a little cloudy, but its better than just pouring the sand in the tank.

[Loverotties]

+1 but wash the dirty sand 1st and then pour in,it will be less cloudy too.

[drew1092]

Cool, thanks guys. I was a little worried about adding the sand that had been sitting out but I would have hated wasting the money. Thanks EC for all the sand bed research you have done, the readings and posts help. I am going to trying getting some sand with the water changes, before I was worried about removing it.