Adding sand to established aquarium

[newfishhobbyist]

Hi everyone! My husband and I wanted to add some more sand to our 29 biocube. We have 2 false perculas, 1 fire shrimp, several cerith and astrea snails. Is there an easy way to do this? Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

HAPPY LABOR DAY!

[match55]

all I can think of its use a smaller container slowly add sand to your tank.
use anything u can think of to make the sand go in to your tank as slow as it can, so it won't make the water cloudy. (the water will become cloudy no matter what, but if u put them in slowly, the new sand n water seem to settle down quicker IME )

[roka64]

I agree, rinse the sand a few times and use a plastic bowl and lower it in the tank, let it fill up with water and get close to the bottom and pour it out. No matter how many times you rinse, you will still have some smaller particles the will float around.
Some folks will use a PVC to pour it in.
Make sure you turn off any water moving equipment to reduce the flow. You fish will be fine. I separated CC from the sand in my 55. It was a bit of a mess but my fish survived.

[h8z2luze]

The pvc with a funnel sounds like a good idea!

[mcgrady7761]

rinse the sand then put it in a container with a lid on it. once the container is at the bottom take the lid off and quickly turn the container over.

[roka64]

The PVC doesn't work too well with wet sand. It works great with dry and it is easier to get it exactly where you want it.

[mrg02d]

No matter what trick you pull, you need to rinse first REALLY well! I am still in agony 3 months later after NOT rinsing my sand. The junk in it seems to have turned into filthy scum that just goes everywhere when I disturb the sand bed. (Place a coral on the bottom and you get a nasty storm).

Matt

[roka64]

Mrg02d, if you have a filter that should suck it up some. If you are not using a filter, stir the sand a little when you do a PWC and that should suck up some more of the smaller particles....

[mrg02d]

Hello,
I have been running a power filter for a 50 gallon tank (I have a 20g) for months and I still have a dust problem. I recently got a micro filter material and stuck it into my filter last night. We will see how it goes.

Still, wish I had rinsed my sand!
Matt

[roka64]

Cool, yeah I rinsed 270Lbs of sand in 5 gallon buckets 5 times each bucket and still had a sand storm.

[newfishhobbyist]

Thanks everyone. We are still in the process of rinsing and we will let you know how it goes.