added 75lbs of live sand to established tank

scotster9822 · 03/06/2014, 07:23 PM

Hey everyone,

I added 75lbs of live sand to my established tank(3years est approx 120gal tank) 2 days ago because it only had a 1/4in covering to begin with. I mixed the sand with the old so it wouldn't die off however i just read that I shouldn't have done it. I currently only have a cardinal, a clown, and a doublesaddle butterfly fish, along with some snails, hermit crabs, chocolate chip star fish and a brittle star fish. I am running a overflow box into a 35 ish gallon sump that has some live rock and a reef octopus diablo xs200 protein skimmer. and activated carbon in a fine mesh sac in the sump sock. the tank has a lot of live rock I will attach pics.

The problem is my butterfly is starting to get a small growth on its side. it was green and now it is a light brown. the sand completly settled inside of 3 hours. all the fish look healthy and are eating well and swimming well etc. could this new live sand cause the problem? I purchased it off this ebay listing.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/121076539187...84.m1497.l2649

also could this sand cause my tank to cycle again(how do i know if it is?) I have had this tank for 3 years but just got the reef octopus last month and I also used to have bio balls that I removed when I got the new protein skimmer. Any info would be great!

Thanks everyone,
ps the tubes and the pipes shown on the protein skimmer were installed to quiet it down and they worked amazingly it's literally 80-90% quieter (note no glue was used on the pipes)

Scot

tank pic 1.jpg

tank pic 2.jpg

sump pic 1.jpg

protein skimmer pic 1.jpg

scotster9822 · 03/06/2014, 07:44 PM

the site would not let me attach the pictures properly so here are the links to the photos on photobucket Thanks everyone

http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/sh...tml?sort=3&o=3

http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/sh...tml?sort=3&o=2

http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/sh...tml?sort=3&o=1

http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/sh...tml?sort=3&o=0

03/06/2014, 07:23 PM	#1
scotster9822 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2014 Posts: 4	added 75lbs of live sand to established tank Hey everyone, I added 75lbs of live sand to my established tank(3years est approx 120gal tank) 2 days ago because it only had a 1/4in covering to begin with. I mixed the sand with the old so it wouldn't die off however i just read that I shouldn't have done it. I currently only have a cardinal, a clown, and a doublesaddle butterfly fish, along with some snails, hermit crabs, chocolate chip star fish and a brittle star fish. I am running a overflow box into a 35 ish gallon sump that has some live rock and a reef octopus diablo xs200 protein skimmer. and activated carbon in a fine mesh sac in the sump sock. the tank has a lot of live rock I will attach pics. The problem is my butterfly is starting to get a small growth on its side. it was green and now it is a light brown. the sand completly settled inside of 3 hours. all the fish look healthy and are eating well and swimming well etc. could this new live sand cause the problem? I purchased it off this ebay listing. http://www.ebay.com/itm/121076539187...84.m1497.l2649 also could this sand cause my tank to cycle again(how do i know if it is?) I have had this tank for 3 years but just got the reef octopus last month and I also used to have bio balls that I removed when I got the new protein skimmer. Any info would be great! Thanks everyone, ps the tubes and the pipes shown on the protein skimmer were installed to quiet it down and they worked amazingly it's literally 80-90% quieter (note no glue was used on the pipes) Scot tank pic 1.jpg tank pic 2.jpg sump pic 1.jpg protein skimmer pic 1.jpg

03/06/2014, 07:44 PM	#2
scotster9822 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2014 Posts: 4	the site would not let me attach the pictures properly so here are the links to the photos on photobucket Thanks everyone http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/sh...tml?sort=3&o=3 http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/sh...tml?sort=3&o=2 http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/sh...tml?sort=3&o=1 http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/sh...tml?sort=3&o=0