Sugar sand problems

[acracker]

Hey i put sugar sized sand in my tank and was told that the sand storms would get better. Well it has been running for a few months and always looks cloudy can i take out this sand and use something else. I was told that would start over my cycle. Should i just get a bigger sand or something to put over it. What is recommended here? Thank you all in advance and i apologize if this has already been asked!

[eho72]

I had the same problem with making the mistake of sugar size sand. If you don't want to deal with the recyling process, get some reef grade sand and put over it. That's what i ended up doing.

[jimlundborg]

I'm going through something similar the water isn't really cloudy but sand settles on everything. I love the look of the sugar sized sand but it is more on a pain than what I thought.

[IslandCrow]

If you use dry sand, you won't have to worry about re-starting a cycle. The sugar sized sand does get better, but it takes more like 6 months to a year. I find it nice for low flow tanks, or remote deep sand beds, but it certainly can be problematic for a high energy reef tank. You can certainly remove your current bed and add a different type of sand. I haven't done it before, but hopefully some people with experience can suggest some good techniques to make it as painless as possible.

[reefvilla]

I bought 160lbs. of sugar sand and after 2 weeks I removed it and went back with live sand.

[acracker]

Thank you for all of the reply's. It has gotten a lot clearer since I posted this. I think I will give it a little longer and see how it goes. If it doesn't get better than it is now I will add some courser sand on top Again thank you everyone for all of your help!

[sedor]

You could always just siphon the sand out with a tube the same way you do water changes. I would probably suggest removing the sand and then adding the reef sand as opposed to just putting it on top.

[GhostCon1]

Wouldn't putting the new sand over the established sand kill off the anaerobic bacteria? (Forget which one it is)

[muttley000]

Hey acracker, how deep is your sand and how big a tank? I have 2 bags of this, one is for a deep sand bed in my fuge, I'm thinking of mixing something coarser to mix with it in the display.

[aquablast]

I was worried about having this same problem so I ordered 120# of the Aragonite Selsect grade. Just arrived today and I was supprised at how fine it was. Concerned that the bags were miss marked, I called supplier. They will only take it back if I pay return shipping. At $50 shipping cost, I am not to happy with that. If it is truely select grade it certainly is finer than the web site pictures show. A little disapointed in the whole cituation but guess I am stuck with it.

[okieman98]

i use it in my 55 gal. it works well once you get your flow adjusted so u will not blow it around. i use carbon and a hob filter for a few weeks, with a polishing fiber, it cleared up after a few days , have not had any trouble with it since and still use it. i also have used the pulverized lime stone with great results but it takes time to clean it.

[acracker]

Sand storms have calmed. I even did a water change yesterday with out the tank completely clouding up. Thank you all for your help.

muttley000 The sand bed is about 4" and it is in a 120 gallon tank