add sand? how?

i like the looks of a sand bed. i now have about 1/4 to 1/2 inches of cc. to add sand do i have to take out the cc, live rock, and critters to add sand or can i just slowly add it to my cc and mix it together without removing anything? and also do i have to have the sand under my live rock or should i leave the rock in place and add sand around it leaving the cc under it? i hope this makes sense. basically how do i add sand without tearing down and starting over?

 

I watched a friend add 200lbs to his 125 a couple of months ago and all he did was just slowly add it to the tank. It made a terrible sandstorm for about a week but afterwards everything was fine.

 

You can do it

I added several inches of sand to my 90 after it had been up for awhile. There are several other ways to do it than just dumping. I used a 2 inch piece of pvc taller than the water level to pour it into as I slowly distributed it around the tank. Easier if one person pours while another distributes. The slower you go the less mess you make. Another way is the old freshwater method of using a saucer or a large bowl. Any method results in some cloudiness, some more than other. I would be careful of covering any critters like snails, shrooms, etc. If you kill a lot of algae you can expect an appropriate bio-response (ammonia, etc.) Blow any dust off rocks after things settle, especially if you have coralline, which will die if covered.
Good luck;D

 

I agree the PVC method works great. My personal fav method is to put the whole closed bag of sand in the tank, take a razor to the bottom part that should be resting on your cc substrate and VERY SLOWLY start pushing the sand out of the bag. VERY VERY SLOWLY. This result in little or no cloudiness. I would also suggest you turn off your over flow my doing this. If any cloudiness arises you want it to settle in your tank not your wet dry.

 

thanks for the ideas. so i take it its ok to blend with my cc?

 

Perfectly fine. As a matter of fact if you like Garden Eels it's recommended. ;D