Rinsing live sand?

Fizbang · 12/12/2017, 11:01 AM

I see most people and youtube vids have people rinsing their sand prior to install. However, I have some Caribe Sea Ocean Direct Live sand here and it says on the bag "no rinsing" so, do I or don't I?

mcgyvr · 12/12/2017, 11:25 AM

You do not need to rinse it but you might have excessive dust/foam,etc.. in the tank if you are not very careful/gentle with it..

Running some mechanical filtration can quickly remedy that..

In general your tank will take longer to cycle than it will for the dust to settle down so even if you don't it will clear up in time..

I personally would recommend always rinsing your sand though.. And even more so "live sand" to remove some of the dead/decaying organic matter from it.. Well.. personally I wouldn't ever buy "live sand" and always recommend dry..
IMO "live sand" is more dead than anything and is usually more trouble and causes more issues than it solves..

But there is nothing "toxic" or anything that must be rinsed out first.. Life will go on just fine if you don't rinse it.. But rinse it

nereefpat · 12/12/2017, 11:31 AM

If rinsing, I would use saltwater to rinse it.

Most everything in the bag is dead, except bacteria. I wouldn't expose the bacteria to freshwater.

Uncle99 · 12/12/2017, 12:31 PM

I found this sand to require a lot of washing so saltwater for me way to expensive.
I used 1 piece of good quality live rock to reseed the sand during cycle.

Fizbang · 12/12/2017, 01:33 PM

Thanks for the replies. This brings about a couple other questions also. I am moving from a cycled 10G that has been up and running for a few months at least (not sure of total time as I inherited it with no history, but I have had it running for a couple months anyway. I was planning on transfering all the sand, water, rock, fish, etc over and just add some more sand and 20G of fresh mix water to the new 30G. Would this basically bypass the cycling time?

sde1500 · 12/12/2017, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fizbang

I was planning on transfering all the sand, water, rock, fish, etc over and just add some more sand and 20G of fresh mix water to the new 30G. Would this basically bypass the cycling time?

It might. Might see a quick mini cycle.

outy · 12/12/2017, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fizbang

. Would this basically bypass the cycling time?

No.

when in doubt measure

It my shorten process, but you still could go through a small one and you will need to measure

der_wille_zur_macht · 12/12/2017, 01:47 PM

"Cycling" is the act of establishing a bacterial population suitable for handling your nutrient load. The bacteria generally live on rock and sand. Transferring rock and sand will preserve most of the bacterial population, which would achieve your goal.

That said, transferring sand can be problematic. Many times, older sand will be full of decaying organic matter. It doesn't cause a problem in your tank because it's locked away under the sandbed. But, if you transfer the sand, you'll be stirring it up and releasing that organic material back into the water column. This can easily kill a tank if the sand is polluted enough, but if the sand is clean, it's often not a problem to re-use the sand.

We can't tell where your tank is on that spectrum, you'll have to look and decide - or just discard the sand to be safe. On the other hand, transferring the rock is usually very safe, although you may stir up some gunk just doing that. Regardless of what you do, have enough saltwater on hand to do one or two large water changes within the first day or two of the new tank's life, just in case.

The best way to handle this would probably be to set up the new tank with completely new sand, seed it with a few handfuls of the old sand, and let the new system run for a week or two in order for everything to stabilize and the bacteria to populate the sandbed. Then, move your rock and livestock into the new system. If you're putting the new tank in the same location as the old one, or you're re-using all the equipment, this might not be possible. In that case, you could pre-cure the new sand in a rubbermaid tote with a heater and small powerhead, or just go with all new sand (plus a handful of old to seed it) and hope for the best.

At any rate, I wouldn't transfer the old sand unless you were very confident that it was clean.

thomashtom · 12/12/2017, 11:36 PM

you should not rinse live sand

Nick30G · 12/13/2017, 06:37 AM

You do not have to rinse sand. It's fine. Get yourself a cheap test kit for Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate. The cycle is complete when you have no Ammonia and Nitrite and moderate/low amount of Nitrate. That is how you know your tank is cycled.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

Fizbang · 12/13/2017, 11:05 PM

Thanks folks...I have all the testing kits and have been testing my current tank quite often maybe even too much....lol.I have a refractometer, hanna ph meter etc. I will be adding some new sand at least 20lbs, in addition to my old sand. I just got finished bleaching my new/old dry rock and will probably boil it tomorrow then get a tub of saltwater running to put it in for awhile to test for phosphates.

12/12/2017, 11:01 AM	#1
Fizbang Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2017 Location: Southern Alabama Posts: 22	Rinsing live sand? I see most people and youtube vids have people rinsing their sand prior to install. However, I have some Caribe Sea Ocean Direct Live sand here and it says on the bag "no rinsing" so, do I or don't I?

12/12/2017, 11:25 AM	#2
mcgyvr Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: North Carolina Posts: 20,050	You do not need to rinse it but you might have excessive dust/foam,etc.. in the tank if you are not very careful/gentle with it.. Running some mechanical filtration can quickly remedy that.. In general your tank will take longer to cycle than it will for the dust to settle down so even if you don't it will clear up in time.. I personally would recommend always rinsing your sand though.. And even more so "live sand" to remove some of the dead/decaying organic matter from it.. Well.. personally I wouldn't ever buy "live sand" and always recommend dry.. IMO "live sand" is more dead than anything and is usually more trouble and causes more issues than it solves.. But there is nothing "toxic" or anything that must be rinsed out first.. Life will go on just fine if you don't rinse it.. But rinse it __________________ Who me?

12/12/2017, 11:31 AM	#3
nereefpat Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: Central Nebraska Posts: 3,190	If rinsing, I would use saltwater to rinse it. Most everything in the bag is dead, except bacteria. I wouldn't expose the bacteria to freshwater. __________________ Pat Current Tank Info: 125 in-wall , 40b sump. 6 bulb T5. ASM G2 skimmer. LPS and leathers

12/12/2017, 01:47 PM	#8
der_wille_zur_macht Team RC Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: NY Posts: 17,749	"Cycling" is the act of establishing a bacterial population suitable for handling your nutrient load. The bacteria generally live on rock and sand. Transferring rock and sand will preserve most of the bacterial population, which would achieve your goal. That said, transferring sand can be problematic. Many times, older sand will be full of decaying organic matter. It doesn't cause a problem in your tank because it's locked away under the sandbed. But, if you transfer the sand, you'll be stirring it up and releasing that organic material back into the water column. This can easily kill a tank if the sand is polluted enough, but if the sand is clean, it's often not a problem to re-use the sand. We can't tell where your tank is on that spectrum, you'll have to look and decide - or just discard the sand to be safe. On the other hand, transferring the rock is usually very safe, although you may stir up some gunk just doing that. Regardless of what you do, have enough saltwater on hand to do one or two large water changes within the first day or two of the new tank's life, just in case. The best way to handle this would probably be to set up the new tank with completely new sand, seed it with a few handfuls of the old sand, and let the new system run for a week or two in order for everything to stabilize and the bacteria to populate the sandbed. Then, move your rock and livestock into the new system. If you're putting the new tank in the same location as the old one, or you're re-using all the equipment, this might not be possible. In that case, you could pre-cure the new sand in a rubbermaid tote with a heater and small powerhead, or just go with all new sand (plus a handful of old to seed it) and hope for the best. At any rate, I wouldn't transfer the old sand unless you were very confident that it was clean. __________________ Inconveniencing marine life since 1992 "It is my personal belief that reef aquaria should be thriving communities of biodiversity, representative of their wild counterparts, and not merely collections of pretty specimens growing on tidy clean rock shelves covered in purple coralline algae." (Eric Borneman)

12/12/2017, 12:31 PM	#4
Uncle99 Crab Free Zone Join Date: Sep 2017 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 2,906	I found this sand to require a lot of washing so saltwater for me way to expensive. I used 1 piece of good quality live rock to reseed the sand during cycle.

12/12/2017, 01:33 PM	#5
Fizbang Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2017 Location: Southern Alabama Posts: 22	Thanks for the replies. This brings about a couple other questions also. I am moving from a cycled 10G that has been up and running for a few months at least (not sure of total time as I inherited it with no history, but I have had it running for a couple months anyway. I was planning on transfering all the sand, water, rock, fish, etc over and just add some more sand and 20G of fresh mix water to the new 30G. Would this basically bypass the cycling time?

12/12/2017, 11:36 PM	#9
thomashtom Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2017 Posts: 70	you should not rinse live sand

12/13/2017, 06:37 AM	#10
Nick30G Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2016 Posts: 265	You do not have to rinse sand. It's fine. Get yourself a cheap test kit for Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate. The cycle is complete when you have no Ammonia and Nitrite and moderate/low amount of Nitrate. That is how you know your tank is cycled. Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

12/13/2017, 11:05 PM	#11
Fizbang Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2017 Location: Southern Alabama Posts: 22	Thanks folks...I have all the testing kits and have been testing my current tank quite often maybe even too much....lol.I have a refractometer, hanna ph meter etc. I will be adding some new sand at least 20lbs, in addition to my old sand. I just got finished bleaching my new/old dry rock and will probably boil it tomorrow then get a tub of saltwater running to put it in for awhile to test for phosphates.