Are you sure the SD sand is good???

[SCRUBBER]

I am really thinking about putting South down sand in an aquarium that I have had for about four years. I initially
used the old crushed coral. Ph fluctuates, Its not good anymore.
has anyone done any kind of tests? silicates? metals? anything anybody can say that is good before I ruin every coral and fish that I have had for three-four years?





Grow coral in captivity for reintoduction so our kids can see it!

[Neal358]

i am having the same question that you are i am looking to change to a new tank and add a deep sand be . i am just wondering will this cause some typ of "extra cycel in the tank that my consern

[fishpoo]

ever since i put in a dsb in my custom sump/refugium i'm dealing with brown slime algae (dinoflagellates). i imagine it's going thru a "new tank syndrome". this refugium has been setup march 1st. i do notice less each week but it is trying my patients.

[cwa46]

The SD sand has been used by hundreds of people in setting up reef aquariums. I have heard of no problems associated with the sand quality. I purchased a pallet of it for myself and others in this area with no problems either. But, you are free to spend more on some other source.

[bajathree]

One thing I will say is it is extremely silty. I defiantly recomend running some type of external filer at the beginning to help clear it out. Other than that I have never heard anything negative.

[SawCJack00]

Many people have used SD sand including myself with great results. If you completely replace your CC you will experience a cycle for a couple of reasons. one is that any major disturbance of the substrate will cause some die off of the sand bed fauna, and the other is that the new sand will not be populated with bacteria when you add it. It will take a little time for the bacteria to colonize the sand (not long, and I'd post in Dr Ron's forum or do a search on DSB's for info). Good luck.

[Niven]

I would avoid running any type of canister filter. The silt is part of the overall benefit of the sand. People that are just setting up tanks think that it will stay cloudy forever. If you already have a good supply of bacteria, the bacteria will weight the silt down within a few hours to a day. If you start with a new tank, it won't clear up until there is enough bacteria to weight it down.

I recently setup a 65g plumbed to my 120g. I tried to let it settle out before I plumbed it together. After 3 days it still hadn't cleared, I took a chance and 'attached' it. It was clear in a few hours:)

Some people do half the tank at a time. That way you save some of the beneficial bacteria.

Good luck,
Gareth

[dnjan]

Originally posted by SCRUBBER
I am really thinking about putting South down sand in an aquarium that I have had for about four years. I initially
used the old crushed coral. Ph fluctuates, Its not good anymore.
has anyone done any kind of tests? silicates? metals? anything anybody can say that is good before I ruin every coral and fish that I have had for three-four years?


Are you changing to southdown to stop pH fluctuations? Not sure it will do that. How bad are the fluctuations, and how long have you been noticing them?

Sounds like you have a mature, stable system. Why mess with it?

[TimT]

Just wanted to add my two cents, the brown slime (i've been reading) is sometimes do to silicates. As far as I can find out SouthDown is pure agg. no sil. My 55 has been up and running with CC a year and a half. I changed to a 6" deep sand bed 3 weeks ago (big job, plan on a day) I added 100lbs of SD 40lbs of pure agg. and 20lbs of LS from IA. Ordered my sand critters today:-) My tank, after putting back the LR, fish never had an ammonia spike, luck maby?? Ph=450 never been that high? I am glad I made the change. HTH, Tim
Oh, If you can find this please read, THE IMPORTANCE OF DEEPSAND by Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. it was published in Feb,2001 Aquarium Fish Magazine. Or it may be on the Web???