Adding Substrate

[Zentoolie]

Hi,
I currently have a sandbed of about 2" and am wanting to double this to a DSB of about 4". At the moment the substrate I have is RedSea's Reefbase (as I have a Red Sea Max tank) which is round and has about a .5 to 1.5 mm size grain. I'm wondering if I can just add another 2"of this sand type straight on top of the existing bed. Will this cause any issues like a mini-cycle etc? Should I do this over a period of time or all at once. If over a period how long? Is this size sand ok for a DSB? How should I add it without causing too much storming?

Thanks.

Zen

[raggie]

nope just clean it well, i added 3 inchs to mine nothing as long as u clean the sand

[kevin2000]

Going slow allows the aerobic bacteria to migrate upwards avoiding avoiding a major die off and potential problems. If it were my tank I would add the sand slowly over a couple of weeks.

That size sand should be Ok for a DSB ... many would argue that 4" is the minimum size for a DSB so you might want to add a bit more.

Hope this helps.

[mg426]

I would say that you should be AOK, I would consider adding an inch at a time untill you get to your desired depth. Adding sand by pouring it through a 2 inch piece of PVC sure helps cut down on the sandstorm effect.