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Adding new sand to existing setup

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Reeferforlyfe, Apr 10, 2012.

  1. Actuary Well-Known ReefKeeper

    705
    Adel, IA
    Ratings:
    +145 / 1 / -0
    I'm seriously considering doing this exact same thing. I have 4 MP40s in my 180g with very fine oolite sand. I can't ever turn my MP40s up beyond 60% without creating a giant sandstorm. How did you manage to get the sand down there without making a giant mess? My concern is that the fine sand is still going manage to make its way on top of the course sand and then we'd be back to the drawing board.
     
  2. Reeferforlyfe

    Reeferforlyfe Inactive User

    655
    Ratings:
    +0 / 0 / -0
    I removed about 40 lbs of old sand. The sand is a really fine sand, like sugar granules lol. It's compacted and was like scooping concrete. It was a bi@&$. So I'm not too worried about it surfacing to the top anytime soon. I got caribsea special grade.
    I didn't remove the entire bottom layer for fear of releasing all the detrius into the water column, possibly starting a small cycle. So I removed what I could, and put down a 2-3 inch layer on top. I have my 40 cranked, and nothing budged. I'm going to add another one here soon. I bought an extra bad of 40 lbs to add at  later date. That will give me a total of about 6 inches for a sand bed.. DEEP!
    Let me know if I can answer anything else for you.. So far I have around 6000 gallons of flow in the tank not including return pump... Holding steady, the sand is anyways 
     
  3. Actuary Well-Known ReefKeeper

    705
    Adel, IA
    Ratings:
    +145 / 1 / -0
    Wow.. that sounds like it did the trick then. Did you bring the sand down slowly in covered containers or bring it down through a pvc pipe or how did you manage to get it down to the bottom without making a huge mess?
     
  4. Reeferforlyfe

    Reeferforlyfe Inactive User

    655
    Ratings:
    +0 / 0 / -0
    I took the sand in 10 lb increments outside and rinsed it off with a garden hose. Yes that water is loaded with TDS, I'll get to that later. I spent about 2 hours rinsing the 40 lbs of sand. It was milky white at first, every batch. I couldn't get it to the point where the water was clear, but to the point where it wasn't going to get any better. 
    I then took the pail of sand, and rinsed it with RO/DI water 5-6 times to clean off the nasty tap water. I did this for every batch. I then put all of the cleaned and rinsed sand into a community bucket. Rinsed that one more time, and then started to take old sand out of my tank, cup by cup. I took out about 40 lbs worth, and when I was ready to add the new (Caribsea special grade) sand to my tank, I used the same cup. Scooping about 3 cups worth of sand at a time, and slowy with 28" gloves on, got it as close to the bottom of the tank as possible, and then started to dump the sand accordingly.
    The water, IF RINSED CORRECTLY, will be slightly cloudy, but still able to see almost completely across my 6ft tank. This was like this for 12 hours, as the next morning everything had settled and the water was back to being crystal clear. When I say crystal, I mean it looks like my fish are suspended in a column of air. My water quality is fantastic. The work overall wasn't to bad, and well worth the elbow grease.
    Let me know if I need to cover anything else for you, bud. Happy Reefing!
     

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