Adding live sand

Hi all....
have a question about adding live sand to an established tank....had my tank for about 5 years and wanted to make a deeper sand bed (currently 1-2".. wanted around 4"). so basically want to double the sand bed. will this make my tank cycle and hurt the coral/fish? any ideas on this would be great, thanks!

 

What I would do sodium is not add the sand all at one time, instead doing it in stages. If this is bagged sand labeled "live" it actually has very little if any beneficial bacteria and may not be able to keep up with any die off from your established bed.

Your tank has been running for 5 years so it's a possibility that disturbing it by addition of the sand all at once may cause an issue.

How large is the tank?

Hopefully someone else will chime in.

 

agreed I would add it slow and just test the water to make sure your not hurting anything. I added aome 'Live Sand" to my 20 gallon and did it a half a bad at a time and it did not hurt andthing other than a few sand sifting stars.

 

Thanks! u2, corailline.....i have a 55g, didnt think to ask if it would be to deep for my tank. But I will add it slow, just like the look of a deeper sand bed so i thought i would give it a go!

 

so did I ;D I had the crushed coral though amd it was driving me nuts so I added a finer grain sand slowly and made sure not to bury anything and bam had it under control and looking better in no time.

 

Go slow and steady! Best way is to get a 1 liter bottle and fill it with your sand, place it in your tank upright and let tue water seep down into the sand. Once you don't see any air coming up just tip the bottle and poor it in! Very little mess

 

Sorry, I am not following why you want to add live sand? Dead sand works much better and is cheaper. All
Live sand will add is dead organic material, which can wreak havoc in an established tank. Dead sand will not and will become colonized (I.e. alive) very quickly in an established tank. Otherwise I agree; go slow.


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I just recently added 40 pounds of live sand to make a deeper sand bed with out any issues. The tank was cloudy for a day but outside of that all is well. Although I did not go slow or add half at a time...I think it might be a good idea for you to listen to the others and follow suite. It has been 3 weeks since deepening the sand bed and this fish and corals are all great as well as my water params. I am actually still blowing sand off of the LR every few days but other than that all is well.

 

That is a good point. Aragonite sand is way more cost effective and IMO looks way better.