used dead sand

[iggyman1971]

Picking up a 65 gallon this weekend. The owner thats selling the tank also has the box of southdown its about 60lbs worth he pulled from the tank over a month ago (wet bagged in a styro box) he’s throwing that in.
My question is could I use it if I let it cycle in a big rubbermaid can with some good live sand from other tank, strip lighting, water changes and current or would the sand be fouled at this point and not be any good? I havn’t seen the sand so I can’t say what it looks like or smells like.

 

[Woodstock]

Hummm... tough call... but I am guessing the sand is full of dead critters and smells bad.... I think I would use fresh sand instead.

 

[Cougra]

I'll bet that reaks to high heaven should you attempt to open that bag up! If you do decide to try it open it up outside and be prepared for the rotten eggs smell! The sealed wet conditions with sand that most likely has high levels of organic matter would be a perfect place for anaerobic bacteria to grow and thrive. Even sand that is left wet in a bucket without good water movement for a week will start to stink when disturbed. He would have been better off cleaning it as much as possible and then drying it out. I highly doubt the sand will be white anymore and will be very difficult to clean before recycling it for use again.

IF you want to try it out, i would recommend that you clean it out as best you can using freshwater. Let the water flow into the pale freely and keep stirring the sand until the water runs clear. You may need a deep pale so yuo don't loss too much saind as the water is overflowing.

The idea is to remove as much of the debris, organics, mulm from the sand as possible before introducing it to a new tank. If you don't you are starting your tank up with a built in disadvantage since that organic matter will pollute the water quickly.

To me I think the amount of work you need to do to get that sand ready is more expensive then if you were to go and get some more sand.

 

[Dragon Wrasse]

I was hopeing you would chime in first on this one Woodstock (I was waiting in the wings) your right this is a tough call...if you absolutly wanted to use this sand, I would compleatly Rinse it and cure it, like curing live rock, heater, skimmer, and circulation, constant testing until you see the cycle. I don't know, never really done it, but you might end up with some good live sand after due to all the dead stuff you had to start your cycle with???

 

[Gina]

I'm not sure if I would really want to go to all that trouble. I would probably just go out and buy some new sand.

 

[iggyman1971]

I'm still up in the air over this.

I'd planned on cleaning it well an holding it in a rubbermaid can with some big pieces of base rock (40lbs), 1 or 2 cups of live sand, current, strip N.O. 50/50 lights and frequent water changes for about 4 weeks. Then I was going to introduce about 5lbs of really nice live sand from my current tank along with several medium size pieces of live rock (10lbs) for another month. Also planned on throwing in some supplements... Bottled liquid Calcium, Strontium & Magesium (These would be dosed every week from the start). hitting it with a decent amount of Phyto the last few weeks of the second month.

opinions?

 

[Cougra]

Also planned on throwing in some supplements... Bottled liquid Calcium, Strontium & Magesium (These would be dosed every week from the start). hitting it with a decent amount of Phyto the last few weeks of the second month.

opinions?

Why? What do you think those additives are really going to do to help the sand? Why do you want to add phytoplankton to the culture vat?

 

[iggyman1971]

Calcium, Strontium & Magesium to build up any beneficial algaes that may be present with the live sand that was introduced in the early stages of curing. The Phyto to feed and allow any live animals that are on the live rock/sand introduced on the second month to survive if not multiply and colonize the base rock and sand after curing...

re.(Why? What do you think those additives are really going to do to help the sand?)

That was pretty sharp, I think I'm bleeding. I don't think I'll be back after being talked down to like that.

I appreciate opinions and suggestions, I don't appreciate being talked down to.
Steve, iggyman1971

Oh yea Michelle, just because you can be a B***H, it doesn't mean you should!

 

[KimPossible]

I've tried a product called Red Slime Remover and it's extremely effective in removing the cyanobacteria you're facing... It is a yellow powder and when added to the tank's water, the skimmer absolutely goes berserk... so prepare for very dry-skim and tune the water level in your skimmer to the lowest if possible... If the skimmer overflows, you have no choice but to off it, after 2-3days, the cyano clears up!! Like magic!! I haven't detected any side-effects after administering it twice to my old 90 gallon... I didn't lose any fish or corals and the product IMHO is really effective!

We just had a discussion going on about Red Slime Remover...read here...

Opps! My apologises... didn't see the other thread... just thought I share my experience...

noooo, I didn't mean it like that. Just wanted to post the link to it.

No worries!!

~LOL....this is from a recent thread I replied to. And my response was taken completely different than what I intended.....

 

[Cougra]

re.(Why? What do you think those additives are really going to do to help the sand?)

That was pretty sharp, I think I'm bleeding. I don't think I'll be back after being talked down to like that.

I appreciate opinions and suggestions, I don't appreciate being talked down to.
Steve, iggyman1971

Oh yea Michelle, just because you can be a B***H, it doesn't mean you should!

I wasn't trying to "talk down to you", I was trying to understand why you think you need the additives. It's not a process I've ever heard anyone doing when culturing live sand.

 

[Dragon Wrasse]

Wow......"Can't we all just get along?" - Rodney King

 

[ReefLady]

Calcium, Strontium & Magesium to build up any beneficial algaes that may be present with the live sand that was introduced in the early stages of curing. The Phyto to feed and allow any live animals that are on the live rock/sand introduced on the second month to survive if not multiply and colonize the base rock and sand after curing...

re.(Why? What do you think those additives are really going to do to help the sand?)

That was pretty sharp, I think I'm bleeding. I don't think I'll be back after being talked down to like that.

I appreciate opinions and suggestions, I don't appreciate being talked down to.
Steve, iggyman1971

Oh yea Michelle, just because you can be a B***H, it doesn't mean you should!

Iggyman, I don't think you've been around long enough to know Cougra that well... she's one of the friendliest and most helpful people we have aboard - and that's saying a lot! I think you took her comment out of context, sometimes that can happen with the written word, when we don't have body language and facial expressions to help us decipher communications.

Anyway... I'm quite positive Michelle (that's Cougra) did not mean to offend you. It's just not her style.

Travis