Adding additional 'LIVE SAND' to established tank

[clittauer]

How should I add more live sand to my tank?

I have a 45-gallon FOWLR tank that is approximately 7 months old.

Presently, the tank contains approx. 35 lbs. of 'LIVE ROCK' and 40 lbs. of 'LIVE SAND.'

The sand bed depth measures to approx. 4.5 cm (~1.75 in).

I recently read Dr. Shimek's _Sand Bed Secrets_ as well as some of his articles but didn't seem to find any instructions on adding more live sand, only instructions on adding live sand before the tank is setup. (Maybe I didn't read it carefully enough!)

Ideally I could get up to a 10 cm deep sandbed adding to it little by little. (as my budget allows)

Back to my question, if I go to the store and purchase a 20 lb. bag of sand how should I add it to my tank? Just dump it in and let the sand fall all over the place? Do I have to take my live rock out of the tank? If not, can I just move it to a corner or something? Should I turn off my pump until the sand settles? What methods work well and which don't from your experiences?

I appreciate your patience for reading this far and thank in advance anyone who replies.

-Craig

[Skipper]

[moved]

[clittauer]

I had navigated to an old part of the forum and didn't get to read the sand-bed faq. I'll go read that now.

[rshimek]

Hi,

Just add the sand as you would add any other sand, no more than a layer about 1 cm thick at a time. There is always some mortality with adding live sand- some animals die in shipping, etc. So, be prepared for a minor cycling event.

[Rod Buehler]

Ron, I beleive that clittauer is talking about adding bagged live sand (a waste of money) that has no critters in it. Do you still think there would be mortality from shipping?

IMHO, I beleive that that bageed" live sand" is what cause the demise of many peoples sand beds. .. They read that they need live sand.. they go to the store and see a bag of "live sand that has been on the shelve for a year.. They think " Hey, I read I need live sand".. They take that bag of bacteria, water and sand home, dump it in, and never give a second thought about adding critters because they beleive that the rock will seed the sand. Then their bed never functions properly.. They rip out the sand bed to go with a very ugly bare bottom tank.....

Besides the grain size is too big :D .

The makers of the "bagged live sand" has shot themselves in the foot IMHO.

[rshimek]

Hi Rod,

I agree with your comments on the bagged stuff. Purchasing it is a waste of money.