New to sw, have a question about my sand..
 

Heyy! Sorry if thisbisbthe wrong place to post... Im about to start up my first sw tank. Itll be a 25 gallon reef + fish. Wondering how i wash my live sand... I was told need to wash it it dechlorinated water, and not haveing am ro system.makes that a little difficult and expensive with store bought water. Can i use the low low nitrate water out of my discus tank to wash the sand?

I've always washed my sand with tap water. You're fine doing the same.

i agree fresh tap water is fine to use:)

In a bucket with a garden hose will do the trick.

+1

And welcome to Canreef

If you bought a bag of "live" sand such as Arag-Alive then you don't wash it at all. If it's just a bag of dry sand then tap water is just fine.

Yeah its a bag of live sand from big als, i was told i should be useing dechlorinated water. It does make sence to me but if u guys say i can use just straight tap water thats alot simpler! Would i still be able to use the basically pristine water from my discus tank to wash it?

Thank you guys for the quick replys! Discus are moving into there new tank in the next day or 2 and the tank they are in now is being tranformed into my first sw :)

Its a 20lb bag of ocean dirrect caribbean live sand

Don't wash it then, it is made to just add directly to the tank. Caribsea's website has a faq's section that covers their Ocean Direct products if you want to check it out.

Collectively, we have a bit more experience than Big Als. Trust us, you can use the hose and a bucket. However, if you have sand that is "live", which is packed in water, you don't wash that. Leave your discus water in the discus tank.

The power heads wont make it overly cloudy? Will be a 600gph and a 425gph powerheads, and live rock as my filtration. And mext question is, if i just add it straight in then add water. Should i let it settle before putting power heads in? Still have to order my lr

Wasnt someone from big als that advised me to use dechlorinated water or ro water to rinse my sand lol sorry missed ur comment cuz i didnt know ibhad to go tobthe second page haha so with this bag of carrib sea, i dont or i do have to wash it? Gettin confused with the one person saying i dont have to and others saying i can use straight tap water haha

yes leave your power heads off , mix your salt water outside of the tank then add it , dont mix salt in the tank with sand in there , i add my sand after water but either is fine as its a mess anyways .

liverock can go in after or before but i prefer afterwards to keep things clean:)

Okay, so. Can i wash sand, fill tank with water, mix in salt, then add sand? Ive added sand after tanks full of water lots in my fw tanks lol slow process but ive never had it cloud up :D

if its live sand then it has bacteria ( how much is questionable and what kinds) in it as well some die off , this does not need to be rinsed as you are planning a cycle.




if the sand was never live and is dry ( no liquid in the bag) then it needs to be rinsed as it has dust in it .

thats a fine plan:)

will take a few days or more to clear up , once you add the rock it will clear up faster:)

So then the sand i have is classed as dry sand?

is it dry?

Don't wash it. Dry sand needs lots of rinsing but live sand doesn't need any. The theory behind the live sand is that it is full of beneficial bacteria that will shorten your cycle time for a new tank.

Why do they call it live if its dry?

Ocean Direct is live sand and does have moisture in it, at least it should or your bag got dried out.

or enough die off to build a bacteria population....of which i think neither is needed lol

because its not dry its " moist " enough to keep the bacteria alive and produce organics that feul your cycle.

Oh man this is confuseing bahah im used to just buying silica sand, washing it well and puttin it in baha live. Dry. Wet. Blahblahblah is confuseing me baha

I get it sorta now.. Is thatbwhy theres a little packet of something in it? To keep it "moist"

Sea sand is probably a lot finer than anything you've encountered in your freshwater experiences ... so keep your powerheads off long enough for the sand to settle or you'll grind them to death with all the fine sediment floating around

'Live' sand has bacteria in it that some feel helps start or 'seed' a new tank
If you're going to use true, wet-in-the-bag 'Live' sand then DO NOT wash it
If you're able to mix up your new salt water outside the tank, add the sand first and then slowly add the water
If you need to mix the salt in the tank first then, as reefwars stated, add the sand after the salt is mixed

I don't bother with it myself. Cheaper to buy dry and wait a bit.

add salt water to tank , add sand to tank as is .........confusion over my friend lol :)

So this sand will kick start my.cycle a little bit before i add the live rock? And then the die off from lr i order will do the rest of the cycle?

Yep, no rinsing required.

Okay so! No washing sand. Ad water. Then salt. Turn power head on n let it mix... Then turn power heads off and add sand? Correcto? Everyone agree this is good? Hahah havent even got my first sw tank setup yet and already confused beyon beleif bahah

Correct, I would have a heater in there too, temperature changes the salinity readings.

Yeah heater to lol what temp.shoulf i be lookin at for cycleing? I always max out my heaters in fw tanks to cycle

You got er:)

You'll be fine relax all in all if this step gets messed up there's no bad effects to be had just a little extra work:)

I like to keep my tanks around 77-78 degrees.

78-80 is fine

Thanks! Haha everythings sooooo different the fw. Im assumeing once its all up and goin itll get easier haha if this goes well, when i upgrade my arowana to a 10 foot tank, my 240gallom fw tank will be converted to sw to

Make sure your old tanks have never had copper in them , marine inverts cannot handle the same amounts of copper as freshwater even just the silicone can cause issues.