adding live sand to existing sandbed any good?????

[tyh]

Thinking of adding some live sand to my exsiting sand bed, will this be of any help? The live sand at the LFS claims to have loads of beneficial bacteria to removes nitrates( my problem) and other stuff. GUy at LFS said it's ok to add the live sand.but I've got 2 questions---

 

(1) Denitrifying bacteria that removes nitrates are anaerobic, hence wouldn't putting the live sand on top of my existing sand bed, a region of high oxygen content, kill such bacteria instantly rendering it useless???

Is live sand meant as the bottom layer of a DSB?

 

(2) live sand comes in factory packaged bags, with salt water of course. Adding such sand directly into my tank, mixing with water of different composition, e.g. salinity and so on, should cause some/lots of beneficial bacteria to die, causing a nitrate bloom in theory. Is this true?

 

please advise. Need to consider consequences of adding the live sand

 

Cheers.

[nano-nemo]

best way to remove nitrates is through partial water changes. find the source of your nitrates (ie over feeding, too high bioload, dying animals, etc) and treat that first. If you tank has already cycled you shouldnt need the ls, if anything add more lr if your not already at 1.5-2lb per gal.

[bravoreefer]

Just do water changes to remove the NO3¯.

[EtOH_is_good]

your best bet for adding denitrafying bacteris is to add lr as suggested. a deeper substrate may help in the short run, but dsb will eventually fail because the biodiversity is not as high as a real sea bed. also remember a nr is a closed system. once waste get trapped in the substrate exporting it will be difficult.