seeding sand

[saltysteven]

hey guys,
whats the best way to seed aragonite? what do i use and where do i get it?

[bertoni]

How deep is the sandbed? Seeding is optional for shallow sandbeds, in my opinion. Some animals might help keep the sand a bit cleaner. I buy kits from ipsf.com and InlandAquatics.com, but there are other vendors.

[saltysteven]

sand bed is 2.25 inches
so what do you recommend i do with keeping the price as low as you can?

[rustybucket145]

Find a local fellow reefer with a nice tank and ask them if they would be kind enough to give you a cup full of sand. Offer to pay, but most will give it free of charge.

[Siberman]

Originally posted by bertoni
How deep is the sandbed? Seeding is optional for shallow sandbeds, in my opinion. Some animals might help keep the sand a bit cleaner. I buy kits from ipsf.com and InlandAquatics.com, but there are other vendors.

Did you notice any aptasia after buying one of these kits? Not accusing, just asking.

[bertoni]

I think begging a cup of sand is the most I'd do. I might not do that, unless I was sure the donor tank was pest-free.

[saltysteven]

bertoni- whats the way to go?
is it just a gamble?

[bertoni]

I've seen Aiptasia in some of the kit items.

I think it's a gamble, any way you go. For that depth of sand, I don't think stocking is critical. I'd probably just leave it be. When we had a local sand swap, I opted out, in the end, due to fears of introducing pests.

[ivgonmad]

buy a 5lb bag of live sand and dump it in your tank, also could get some Pods from ebay, that would kick start the microfauna in your tank quite a bit.

[spike78]

You may have problems with that depth of sand. You're kind of in between a shallow sand bed and a DSB. Too deep to keep free of detrius and too shallow for good denitrification. You should look to add more sand and get the bed over 4" or pull some out and go shallower than an inch.

I seeded my DSB with 20# of Florida Live Sand and 20# of South Pacific Live Sand from LivaAquaria and PremiumAqatics. I'm still finding new stuff growing in the bed.

[saltysteven]

Originally posted by ivgonmad
buy a 5lb bag of live sand and dump it in your tank, also could get some Pods from ebay, that would kick start the microfauna in your tank quite a bit.

where do you get a 5 lbs bag and what are the pods?

[Nanz]

I ordered that grunge from Garf's and was not pleased. Thankfully I tested it in a Nano tank first. I work at a soil lab and we get some foul samples from wastewater treatment plants, etc. Well this grunge smelled exactly like wastewater. I proceeded to put it in my nano which had nothing but LR and sand in it. It spiked my ammonia up to 5.0ppm or higher. That was the limit on the testkit. Anyways Im glad I did not add it to my refugium for my display tank. I spoke with Garf and he was surprised that this happened to me and expected the opposite. No more mud for me. I'll just buy the worms and brittle stars from inlandaquatics.

[tcilmo]

What I did when I started my tanks was 1/2 the sand was live sand and the other half was not. Not sure if that helps at all.