Adding to Southjdown Sand Bed

CarmieJo · 03/25/2006, 07:15 AM

The Southdown sand bed in my tank is probably an average of 3" thick. Someone in my group is moving and tearing down his tank and I can get some more Southdown sand from him. I'm thinking that I would like to increase the average depth og my bed to 4" or so. What are the pros and cons? I have a maroon clown on hold at the LFS because I didn't want to get it until I did a water change today. If I get the sand should I hold off on adding the fish? My tank is 10 weeks old and since I started out with 100# LS and 50# LR never had a cycle. I also put a bunch of old coral heads from when I kept FO back in the 80's in my tank, they are already getting coraline on them so I think they are probably biologically active too.
Parameters"
NH4 0
NO2 0
NO3 5-10.

Thanks.

CarmieJo · 03/25/2006, 09:05 AM

Anyone?

guitarfish · 03/25/2006, 09:26 AM

I'm a shallow sand bed guy. I have barely an inch of Southdown, that's it.

Since your tank is so new, not much could have developed in your existing 3" bed, so I don't see any harm in adding more. Your friend's bed likely has a lot of microscopic critters that will add some diversity to your tank when you import the sand.

One danger is this - if your friend's tank has a DSB, and you dig deep into that, it's going to be digging into gasses and toxins that are in his DSB that are being processed. If you add those on top of your bed, you could have some kind of ammo or nitrite spike IMO.

03/25/2006, 07:15 AM	#1
CarmieJo Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: NC Posts: 390	Adding to Southjdown Sand Bed The Southdown sand bed in my tank is probably an average of 3" thick. Someone in my group is moving and tearing down his tank and I can get some more Southdown sand from him. I'm thinking that I would like to increase the average depth og my bed to 4" or so. What are the pros and cons? I have a maroon clown on hold at the LFS because I didn't want to get it until I did a water change today. If I get the sand should I hold off on adding the fish? My tank is 10 weeks old and since I started out with 100# LS and 50# LR never had a cycle. I also put a bunch of old coral heads from when I kept FO back in the 80's in my tank, they are already getting coraline on them so I think they are probably biologically active too. Parameters" NH4 0 NO2 0 NO3 5-10. Thanks. __________________ Carmie Only disasters happen fast! Current Tank Info: 54 gal AGA corner tank with a Solaris LED fixture; NanoCube 24

03/25/2006, 09:05 AM	#2
CarmieJo Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: NC Posts: 390	Anyone? __________________ Carmie Only disasters happen fast! Current Tank Info: 54 gal AGA corner tank with a Solaris LED fixture; NanoCube 24

03/25/2006, 09:26 AM	#3
guitarfish Premium Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Milford, PA Posts: 2,666	I'm a shallow sand bed guy. I have barely an inch of Southdown, that's it. Since your tank is so new, not much could have developed in your existing 3" bed, so I don't see any harm in adding more. Your friend's bed likely has a lot of microscopic critters that will add some diversity to your tank when you import the sand. One danger is this - if your friend's tank has a DSB, and you dig deep into that, it's going to be digging into gasses and toxins that are in his DSB that are being processed. If you add those on top of your bed, you could have some kind of ammo or nitrite spike IMO. __________________ "For wisdom is better than corals, and all other delights themselves cannot be made equal to it." (Proverbs 8:11) Current Tank Info: Former tank: 75g AGA MegaFlow, 30g sump, 100lb LR, MAG 9.5, AquaC EV-120w/MAG 5, Aqualight 260w PC