Live sand for the Zoo

[ri]

Hello all,

Now that the Zoo tank is nearing design and installation completion, we should start thinking about the live sand bed. I think we should all start preparing some sand in our own tanks to help seed the Zoo tank.

If anyone wants to help but needs a few pounds of sand, please let me know... I have a few spare bags of South Down sand set aside for this project.

Anyone have other thoughts?

ri

[Loudz34]

Ri. I have i believe 4 -50lb bags of southdown you can have as my contribution to the project... I can send it with one of the guys who might stop by tomorrow....

[Gary Majchrzak]

It's not yet 'alive', but I believe 900 lbs. of "Pure Caribbean Aragonite" has already been donated for the project.....

[Playfair]

There have been several "off-line" discussions of the sand bed in the display, and it's possible that it may only be "deep" in the sump/fuge where it's easier to control.

What we could do is "loan out" a quantity of the donated sand to individuals who want to make it live, then give some back. We are a few weeks away from this however.

There will be further discussions of how donations to this tank will be made... We need to be careful about introducing problems like algaes, flatworms, nudis, etc. If you know you have any nasties in your system, it would be best to avoid spreading them. (this should apply to intra-club trading as well).

[the godfather]

I'm sure I can't help but.I'm changing my tank and I'm buying sand to make a sand bed today.I have about a inch of crushed arogonit if it helps .Been in my tank for two years.After sighing up on this board looks like i want to do a sand bed and I need a couple big pumps because I don't have enough water circulation.

Not sure if it helps but anything I can do let me know.I'll even come up and help with setups if you like.

PM me if you need help My name is Mike

[dmorel]

There is also always a concern when disturbing a sand bed in a tank... In most cases, simply scooping a little of the top layer will not be problematic, but... One should always be cautious in such endeavors. Was it not keith that went through a very nasty bleaching episode after taking only a single cup out of his bed? The theory (iirc) was that toxins were released from the lower portions of the bed during the disturbance that were detrimental to the tank. Could be an isolated case, but I myself have become increasingly weary of messing with the bed in my display or fuge.
That being said, I should be able to assist heavily with live sand once the contents of my current tank are all out. My fuge has an 8" bed, and my display ~4" all well seeded. Since I will have nothing to loose at that point, should work out well.

-dm

[GarSrtn]

I'd be happy to give a couple cups to the project. If anyone near me is heading that way, let me know.