Question on cycling FW sand - Now with pics!

[pkillur]

Greetings all. I have a well established 72 gallon bowfront tank well cycled and running well on an external filter (I've got a built in / drilled overflow that I'm trying to work on, but that's another project for another day...)

I'm planning on replacing my current substrate with sand that I'm cycling in a big 'ol plastic sterilite tub. In the tub I've got like 80 (ish, I didn't really weigh it) pounds of sand, 20 gallons of water from the tap (treated with prime) and 15 gallons of "crappy" (ie siphoned out with a gravel cleaner) water from the tank.

I've got a powerhead running in the tub with a heater to keep the water and sand at an easy 80 degrees. My question is whether or not I need to allow light into the tub or not. I'd prefer to keep the lid on it and just let it do it's thing because it's on my patio and I've got a two and a half year old who keeps trying to play with the sand every time I take the lid off. I'm just wondering in the nitrification is photosensitive or not??? There is access to air via holes in the handles (sounds weird, but It's got holes in them, presumably for a better grip carrying a heavy load since it's a storage box) and circulation, so I'm wondering if I'm wating my time or if I need to add light?

 

[Menagerie]

Welcome to AA, pkillur!

When I switched over several tanks from gravel to sand (ranging from 10-30 gallons), I didn't clean the filter for awhile, took out the gravel and added the sand. No mini cycle was observed. When I upgraded from a 30 to an 80 gallon and added more substrate, again, the filter was not changed, another filter was seeded, the substrate was added and no mini cycle observed.

I'm just wondering in the nitrification is photosensitive or not???

Personally, I wouldn't be going through all that trouble and you certainly do not need light. The bacteria do not have chloroplast; their nutrients are derived from converting ammonia to nitrite or nitrite to nitrate. That brings up another point--unless you are feeding the bacteria with an ammonia source, you will not get any more bacterial growth and will lose the bacteria from the "crappy" water that is in the tub and things will not be smelling very good. Plus the 15 gallons of udes water has very little bacteria in it. Bacteria colonize surfaces, which means there is a ton of it in the filter and on the substrate and decor. If you were feeding with an ammonia source, there would be bacteria from the used water to get it started, but you would be looking at a long time line.

To sum all this up, you currently have a big tub of sand, water, heater, powerhead and a curious toddler, which could be a recipe for disaster (or lots of fun if you’re the toddler) and the sand is not being seeded with the bacteria it needs. Since this tank is well established and if the filter has not been thoroughly cleaned recently and has lots of bacterial growth, it is safe to remove the current substrate and replace it with sand.

 

[JustOneMore20]

Are you feeding the bacteria at all? Pure ammonia or fish food will work. If not...then its probably dead (and not cycling). To cycle, you must feed to get the bacteria colony growing.

and the sand is not being seeded with the bacteria it needs

Glad somebody else sees a problem here.

I think you are going to more trouble than its worth. I'd just replace the substrate, making sure the filter keeps going on the fish holding tub and keeping most of the water and any driftwood or decorations. Make sure everything stays wet. Then replace with sand and put the water back in and the filter and decorations. And voila! New substrate without too much trouble.

 

[pkillur]

Sand Cycling

Welcome to AA, pkillur!

When I switched over several tanks from gravel to sand (ranging from 10-30 gallons), I didn't clean the filter for awhile, took out the gravel and added the sand. No mini cycle was observed. When I upgraded from a 30 to an 80 gallon and added more substrate, again, the filter was not changed, another filter was seeded, the substrate was added and no mini cycle observed.

I'm just wondering in the nitrification is photosensitive or not???

Personally, I wouldn't be going through all that trouble and you certainly do not need light. The bacteria do not have chloroplast; their nutrients are derived from converting ammonia to nitrite or nitrite to nitrate. That brings up another point--unless you are feeding the bacteria with an ammonia source, you will not get any more bacterial growth and will lose the bacteria from the "crappy" water that is in the tub and things will not be smelling very good. Plus the 15 gallons of udes water has very little bacteria in it. Bacteria colonize surfaces, which means there is a ton of it in the filter and on the substrate and decor. If you were feeding with an ammonia source, there would be bacteria from the used water to get it started, but you would be looking at a long time line.

To sum all this up, you currently have a big tub of sand, water, heater, powerhead and a curious toddler, which could be a recipe for disaster (or lots of fun if you’re the toddler) and the sand is not being seeded with the bacteria it needs. Since this tank is well established and if the filter has not been thoroughly cleaned recently and has lots of bacterial growth, it is safe to remove the current substrate and replace it with sand.

Hmmm. OK, good to know. Although, I certainly have learned a lot about bacteria in the last week, so I guess this hasn't been a complete waste of time...

By the way I shared this:

To sum all this up, you currently have a big tub of sand, water, heater, powerhead and a curious toddler, which could be a recipe for disaster (or lots of fun if you’re the toddler) and the sand is not being seeded with the bacteria it needs.

With my wife and it made her blow milk through her nostrils. Plus it may have convinced her to let me pull the trigger on the transfer a little sooner. Thanks so much!

 

[Menagerie]

With my wife and it made her blow milk through her nostrils.

That's great! If she hasn't completely joined you in your new hobby, at least she can laugh about it

I certainly have learned a lot about bacteria in the last week

There's always learning to be done. Good luck with the substrate transfer and let us know how everything goes.

 

[pkillur]

With my wife and it made her blow milk through her nostrils.

That's great! If she hasn't completely joined you in your new hobby, at least she can laugh about it

I certainly have learned a lot about bacteria in the last week

There's always learning to be done. Good luck with the substrate transfer and let us know how everything goes.

As requested, here are the pictures of the new tank setup:

Click on them to get bigger versions...

I went from this (this picture is old, and unplanted...)


To this cool setup. Still working on it a bit...

 

[rich311k]

Looks great, I like thae sand, very nice decorating as well.