adding sand after the water has been added?

[schoeplein]

Is there an effective way of adding sand after the water has been added? I already have a layer of substrate, regular sand, and live sand but would like to thicken the sandbed for my bar goby..... sorry if this jacks the thread.

How much is this stuff per 20lb bag? .. if its like $3/bag I'm going to feel really ripped off! :x

 

[BillyZ]

(split this into it's own thread so you'll have a better chance of responses)

there are a few ways. I would say get a long piece of PVC tubing, and pour the new sand down through that with the end of the pvc down on top of your existing substrate. this will minimize the amount of sand that gets blown around while you're doing it. No matter what you do, you will get some sediment that gets blown around, all you can do is to try and minimize it.

 

[schoeplein]

Thanks!

 

[lando]

This is the best method I have found to add sand to an exsisting tank without causing a major dust bowl. Think pastry bags or bags you use to "pipe" fronsting onto cakes. Get a large zip-lock style bag and fill it with sand. Close the top and cut a corner off. Just put the bag in the water and the sand will fall onto the substrate with no mess. You can even direct it where you want it to go with this method. I just added some more sand to my 72 gal reef using this method and it worked great.

 

[jamal-188]

I've done this a few times. I use a big 3-4" piece of PVC, cut a 1gallon milk jug apart and duct tape it to the top of the PVC to make a large funnel. Then carefully scoop the sand into the tank. It makes a huge difference from just dumping the sand in. BTW, it also helps to rinse the sand off getting some of the super fine particles out.