Live Sand

[Hondace]

HiHi,

Have read about the benefits of live sand. Question is : how do I jump start the process? Where can I can all the beneficial worms and organisms?

FYI : my I have use a gravel filter under my DSB to create a plenum and my tank currently only stock live rocks and I waiting for the rocks to be cured.

Can anyone offer help in this area. Thanks.

[Cleartank]

Hi, you dun use a undergravel filter for a Plenum.... too shallow!

You can run a search on plenum and can easly find how to create one.

To jump start the live sand, you can seed sand from another mature aquarium.

If that is not available, the organism on the live rocks will eventually spread to the sand making it live, it only take more time!

[Crab]

Here it shows you how to cultue your live sand.

http://weww.netpets.org/fish/reference/reefref/cultls7.html

[Hondace]

so how thick should the plenum be??? thank v much.

[hongqixian]

Live sand is not just sand with bacteria. It has to include microfauna like many worms, snails, (amphi)and(cope)pods etc. The same way rock with bacteria is not called live rock.

[Cleartank]

Ohhh..... but can use live sand from mature tank to seed right, and also if using live rocks, microfauna from the rock will migrate to the sand making them live? correct?

[Hecter]

hey, is it possible to add new sand to the current sandbed to make it thicker?

[hongqixian]

Ohhh..... but can use live sand from mature tank to seed right, and also if using live rocks, microfauna from the rock will migrate to the sand making them live? correct?

You are right about the rocks and sand. But the seeded sterile sand will have to be in a healthy and quiet environment for the microfauna to breed and populate the sterile sand properly. If you throw it all in a cycling tank with the nitrogen cycle going on i dun think they will breed very well. Maybe setting up a big tub like a refugium for a month or two with the seeded sand will help to establish a healthy "live" sand bed faster. then you can transfer the sand to the main tank.

[hongqixian]

hey, is it possible to add new sand to the current sandbed to make it thicker?

yeah sure go ahead. But don't put all at once. Add maybe a few handfuls every 3-4 days or you might end up smothering some of your existing sand fauna. A few handfuls at a time also let the sand animals slowly colonize the new sand. It will mix in better with the old.