Old Sand and Nitrogen Cycle

[Conway Corals]

Hey guys!

I run a maintenance business and sponsor RS from time to time . Got a question for some of the more experienced guys out there.

I've setup 4 tanks in the last couple months, 2 with unrinsed old sand from a well established tank that sat in a bucket with water for about 6 months (read nasty), and two with well rinsed and then dried out sand. Both were setup with base rock and around 10% live rock.

The two tanks that were setup with the stinky sand cycled in under a week. I was skeptical and threw in 5 jumbo deli shrimp in a 220 gallon tank and neither the ammonia nor the nitrite budged. Same for a 100 gallon setup the same way. Some really nasty skimmate came out, but other than that and the super cycle, nothing out of the ordinary.

The other two (75 & 95 gallon) took about 4 weeks each, and after an additional shrimp, both saw a spike in ammonia, I missed the nitrite on those though.

What are your thoughts? I know hydrogen sulfide can be a problem, but it seems it was out of the sand and tank, and in the skimmer within a week. Seems this would be a great way to cycle tanks, if I'm not way off base of course.

...you keep fish?

 

[dmatt88]

Brother I don't believe the nitryfying bacteria dies off too fast from good ol "nasty sand". I have year old sand from an old system n I'm now curious how it'd do cycling. May have to try that out.

........... we cut living things into pieces. sheez

 

[Conway Corals]

I've never seen a cycle go that fast! It was pretty cool though, if it doesn't have any negative effects I'll use it for all of my maintenance tanks from now on. They don't have patience like reefers lol

...you keep fish?

 

[dmatt88]

I do believe ur onto something.

........... we cut living things into pieces. sheez

 

[bmplank86]

This is good to know, I have 50 lbs of sand from another breakdown that's sitting dry in a bucket, I'm itching to reuse it


"No rain, no rainbow"

 

[dmatt88]

Let's do an experiment n start a cycle.

........... we cut living things into pieces. sheez

 

[redneckgearhead]

I can't imagine the amount of garbage that is going to come out of that sand. Sure it is "live sand" but the amount of detritus that is going to be in that sand could be a bad bad thing. I would be worried about a massive algae outbreak in the near future. If you run a business, wouldn't it be easier to maintain a LR tank?

 

[dmatt88]

Ya I'm curious too. I figure n old tank no lr just lights. Drop in the shrimp n see if there is any ammonia present in 24-48 -72 hrs. All residual crabs snails n bristleworms would b toast but why not. Its a pending science experiment.

........... we cut living things into pieces. sheez

 

[cheeks69]

Brother I don't believe the nitryfying bacteria dies off too fast from good ol "nasty sand". I have year old sand from an old system n I'm now curious how it'd do cycling. May have to try that out.

........... we cut living things into pieces. sheez

I'd also be curious too. Bacteria need food without it it would eventually die so maybe the nasties were keeping the bacteria alive although six months is a considerable amount of time so the sand would have to be loaded with nutrients.

 

[dmatt88]

This sand I have in the garage is a year. I gotta score another tank.

...........mmmmmmm clams.

 

[Octoman]

Nitrosomonas and nitrobacter are facultative aerobes. They love oxygen, but don't need it to stay alive. That is why the purveyors of live sand and bacterial concentrates can claim 6 - 12 month shelf lives. I would suspect that you had quite a bit of nitrate reduction in your sand while it was sitting as well, so the remaining detritus has probably been stripped of quite a bit of nitrogenous waste.

You basically stored your own home-made "live sand" that they sell off the shelves. The key in your recipe was water, if the sand had dried out, the bacteria wouldn't have survived.

Putting it straight into a tank with animals could be problematic because of the hydrogen sulfide, although in small doses, it may be just fine. And as you mentioned, it dissipates quickly when stirred up. Might make the other half mad if you stink up the living room with it...

Nice find!

 

[Octoman]

Sorry, nitrobacter is an obligate aerobe, but nitrosomonas is facultative. Talking out of my again...

 

[dmatt88]

Sorry, nitrobacter is an obligate aerobe, but nitrosomonas is facultative. Talking out of my again...

We will forgive u this time.......

Truth is I wanna fill a salt tank empty with lights and toss is a shrimp. Let's test the ls issue n not debate it.

Bring on the sacrificial shrimp (n tank n lights. .......

...........mmmmmmm clams.

 

[redneckgearhead]

why add the lights?

 

[Conway Corals]

Only negative I've seen was a small HA outbreak, but that has already passed as well. I'm liking it so far!



...you keep fish?