Continually Replacing Sand

[less than bread]

So I've been more diligent on vacuuming/stirring my sand than I used to, the thing is, I don't like trying to stop the siphon to keep the sand in the tank, I like just going around and sucking the sand up with the gunk. I was thinking I would just keep doing it this way and at some point just buy more sand to replace it every couple months. Anyone else do this? I have burrowing snails so I want to make sure I keep enough sand in there for them and I like the idea of getting new live sand in there every so often.

[Toomanymatts]

I'm not sure of the benefit. You'd be adding dry said with nothing on it through, right?

[seabass]

I used to dispose of the sand that I vacuumed out.  And like you are suggesting, it eventually needs to be replenished.  Then one day I decided that was wasteful.  Now I rinse out the sand and just add it back into the tank.  There's nothing wrong with this sand, it's the gunk that you want to get rid of.

[jservedio]

10 minutes ago, seabass said:

I used to dispose of the sand that I vacuumed out.  And like you are suggesting, it eventually needs to be replenished.  Then one day I decided that was wasteful.  Now I rinse out the sand and just add it back into the tank.  There's nothing wrong with this sand, it's the gunk that you want to get rid of.

I do exactly the same. I let it accumulate in my water change waste bucket until there is like a half gallon or so then wash it and dump it back in. I probably wash the entire sandbed every year or two by doing this.

[FISHnChix]

There was a kid on here for a long time who had an amazing tank . Check him out. What he did was use a spare cheap wave maker to blow the sand and stir it up before a wc. Worked well with clean sand and even helped feed coral. No vacuuming sand so  sand stayed in the tank. Personally i switched to a more course sand and wasnt a problem@HarryPotter

[less than bread]

4 hours ago, Toomanymatts said:

I'm not sure of the benefit. You'd be adding dry said with nothing on it through, right?

It would be the Caribsea Live Sand in small amounts. Maybe replacing 20% of the total sand bed each time. I’m still not super clear on what “live sand” means other than it just comes soaked in salt water. The Caribsea stuff is just what has always been readily available and I think most like it. I do wonder now, if adding that new sand in would mess with my parameters since it comes already in salt water.

[less than bread]

4 hours ago, seabass said:

I used to dispose of the sand that I vacuumed out.  And like you are suggesting, it eventually needs to be replenished.  Then one day I decided that was wasteful.  Now I rinse out the sand and just add it back into the tank.  There's nothing wrong with this sand, it's the gunk that you want to get rid of.

That thought did cross my mind as well. I was kind of wondering if it would benefit the tank to replenish with new “live sand”

[less than bread]

2 hours ago, FISHnChix said:

There was a kid on here for a long time who had an amazing tank . Check him out. What he did was use a spare cheap wave maker to blow the sand and stir it up before a wc. Worked well with clean sand and even helped feed coral. No vacuuming sand so  sand stayed in the tank. Personally i switched to a more course sand and wasnt a problem@HarryPotter

That sounds nice and easy. I might give that a try. I don’t have a lot of sand in my tank relative to the size and pounds of rock so a dust storm is not going to be that big of a deal. Just wondering what would be most beneficial for the tank and easy on maintenance. Thank you!

[Toomanymatts]

3 hours ago, less than bread said:

It would be the Caribsea Live Sand in small amounts. Maybe replacing 20% of the total sand bed each time. I’m still not super clear on what “live sand” means other than it just comes soaked in salt water. The Caribsea stuff is just what has always been readily available and I think most like it. I do wonder now, if adding that new sand in would mess with my parameters since it comes already in salt water.

No I got you.   I don't know what "live sand" is either unless you are scooping it from the ocean or another established tank. 

 

I actually lost a bit in the beginning and would dump it but then decided to just put my thumb over the hose once the sand reached the top, let the sand drop and then draw the rest of the nasty water out.  I actually need to add more sand, mostly cause of the pistol shrimp I added.   I had a level 1 inch when I added him.   This dude started moving it all around.  The front half of the tank is nearly bare so that he could build his sweet fort in the back.  I plan to add enough to get an inch again all around.  Sorry for the long story bro. 

[seabass]

4 hours ago, less than bread said:

I’m still not super clear on what “live sand” means other than it just comes soaked in salt water.

Simply, they've added a nitrifying bacteria culture to make it "live" with bacteria.

 

4 hours ago, less than bread said:

That thought did cross my mind as well. I was kind of wondering if it would benefit the tank to replenish with new “live sand”

I wouldn't associate any significant benefit to adding small amounts of bagged sand.

 

4 hours ago, less than bread said:

That sounds nice and easy. I might give that a try. I don’t have a lot of sand in my tank relative to the size and pounds of rock so a dust storm is not going to be that big of a deal. Just wondering what would be most beneficial for the tank and easy on maintenance.

You'd want to start with a small section each time.  The disruption could release a bunch of organics which might be a problem.  After you've gone through the entire bed at least once (following several weeks of water changes), then you could start going through the entire bed each time.

 

People also blow the detritus off/out of the exposed areas of their rock.  Use a fairly weak pump when doing either of these.  A turkey baster works too.