Sand Beds: Adding SD sand to existing bed

[pjr]

Thanks for all the info on Southdown Sand. NOW I understand all the interest in the product!

I curently have a thin 1/2" to 1" base of CarrbiSea on the base of my tank. It is "live" with plenty of starts and worms. The grain is more of a "gravel" than a sand. I think the look of the Tropical Sand will be much better!

Here's my question: how do I add the grain-sized sand to the tank? I don't want to dump in the sand, do I? Wouldn't that just kill the existing bacteria and life in the sand? And I don't want to just mix it in -- the gravel and sand mixed together would look bad.

Also, any comments on how heavy it should be (or can be at this point) would be helpful. Thanks!!!

[rreynell]

I have the same question...any help out there???

[DaveJ]

Hi there...

I will be doing the same thing as soon as my sand arrives via inter-store shipment from HD.

I have asked Dr Ron about this and he said just to put it on top and the critters will establish themselves on their own. You don't have to mix it, but you will want to pull your rocks out so you get a good bed under them.

The question I would ask is the size of the sand you have now. You may want to post this to Dr Ron and see what he says. If the sand is too coarse it may not be a good base. It might be better to just scoop it out and use a little as seeding.

[Rolo]

Hello everyone,
I am also in the same situation. I only have 18 lbs of Carib-Sea aragonite sand in my 90 right now. If/when I get any SD, I am considering just adding a little bit of SD on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Just enough so that the live critters in the sand now have a chance to get back to the surface.
The long term problem with this plan is that the larger grains will end up on the top, which will not be as attractive as having the small sand grains on the surface. That is the problem with the leaving in the larger grains.
Another suggestion I've heard was to gradually take the larger grains out at the end after it's has all risen to the top. The risk with that is that you might end up disturbing the sand bed too much in this process and create havoc.
That's my two bits, but take anything I say with a grain of salt (excuse the pun), because I am only one year into this hobby.
Good luck!

[Jerry W]

pjr; If you only have a shallow sand bed now and are not happy with the grain size, you might consider a total swap for the SD sand. THe larger particles will eventually make their way to the surface, however this may defeat your original intent for adding the sand. If you do a swap, you can use your existing substrate to seed the new sand. If you add the SD, I'd suggest doing it slowly over a period of a week or so. Take a piece of pvc tubing and slowly pour the sand into a designated area of the tank. Hold the pvc just at the substrate level to avoid major clouding, although you will have some. I used a funnel and just filled one of those cool whip containers with SD and poured two containers in per day for a couple weeks until I had the look I wanted.. JWT