getting started with used sand

[hockeydude15]

I just purchases some sand off of ebay. Its only a quart but its been in a tank before so it will have bacteria. Can I fill my aquarium (38 gal) and add the salt after, then finally put the sand in when I get more substrate?

 

[lando]

The first thing you want to do is get a good history of the sand. Has it ever been in a tank that has had medications (like copper) dosed in it? Is it arriving wet or dry? How long is the shipping time? All of this will effect how useful the sand will be to you.

 

[seaham358]

If there is bacteria on the sand it will die over time if not in water with food for the bacteria. And don't expect a quart of sand to be a big help with the cycle.. you also want the LS to be on top of and dead/play sand you get.

 

[hockeydude15]

The sand is wet and took 1 week to get here.

 

[lando]

ohhh...there is a good chanceit is simply wet dead sand. After a week I am not sure there will be any benefial bacteria left alive in the sand. I would cut your looses and ditch it. At least rinse it SW to clean it and add it to the other sand you are putting in the tank. I am afraid it will really do nothing to help your cycle...sorry.

 

[ezy33]

If it came in a sealed bag it's ok. If it came loose without a good amount of water it may be dieing or dead. Some companys sell "live sand" in a 20# bag, I have used it to kick start my first SW tank. Now I just pull some sand from a running tank to start a new system.

 

[hockeydude15]

Yeah it came in a ziploc bag inside a ziploc bag inside another. I guess you could call that sealed.

 

[seaham358]

IMO anything sold in a Plastic Bag should not be considered live. Seal yourself in a plastic bag and see what happens.
ezy33 How can anything sealed in a bag and put on a shelf for months be considered "live"?

Hockey I would not consider it "junk" I just would not expect much out of it. The best thing is to try and save it, get it in fresh salt water asap. There may be live critters in there still..

 

[roka64]

Hmmm, I would think if it were dead, you might have a funky smell. One way to test it would be put it in a bucket of SW and run an ammonia, nitrItes, nitrAtes test on it. I would also be concerned about meds used in the tank it came from.

 

[hockeydude15]

I just put the sand in some saltwater. It ran for 0 nitrItes, 20 ppm of nitrAtes and .25 ppm of ammonia.

 

[lando]

That is enough to tell you it is not "live". NH3 come from decaying material that can't be processed. In a new tank adding this sand will not be too much of an issue because it should still be cycling. I would certainly not consider it "live" by any means.

If it came in a sealed bag it's ok.

The NH3 level would beg to differ. There is no way I would add this "live sand" to my tank.

 

[melosu58]

I agree with Brian. The ammonia tells you that the bacteria and any little critters did not make it.