Looking (begging?) for Sand Donations

[StirCrazy]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Tigger:
If you just touch it, you couldn't see clearly for hours. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
hehe with new sugar sand you touch it and you can see for days not hours [img]images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[Tigger]

The sugar sand that I have sinks within seconds.

[reefburnaby]

Tigger,

I think Stircrazy is talking about the oolic sand (expensive stuff).

- Victor.

[StirCrazy]

ya sorry I didn't specify that.. I was talking about the caribsea oolic sand.

Steve

[Dolf]

How bad is this Dolomite really?

I was going to be putting it in within the next week (when Canadian Tire gets the shipment) but if it takes months before I can see my coral and fish I think I'll go with silica or some such thing.

Thanks.

[StirCrazy]

Dan check out my post substrate test in progress it was hours befor it was fairly clear and 2 days for it to be crystal clear. now that was in still water but it cleared a lot faster that the caribsea calcium sugar sand (which still isn't clear) . I also stired up my dolomite last night to see how fast it clears out and I just looked and itis crystal clear again.
now putting it inot a exzisting system with powerheads and such might make it take longer.

Steve

[DJ88]

Dan,

Putting sugar sand into a system and waiting for it to clear up is not a long wait as it has been shown here. With proper circulation your tank will clear within a few days.

Little tricks can be done to speed up this process. By taking a powerhead and putting a piece of tubing on the end of it, then submerging the other end in the sand bed you will clear your tank very quickly. The sand bed acts as a large filter and traps the minute particles suspended in the water within itself. As well the circulation of your system with a skimmer running will clear it up. Other tricks are putting hagen powerheads with quick filters on help speed the process up. My 90 was done only with those and took the longest at a couple of days.

Steve,

Don't take this the wrong way but..

Sand in a glass with no circulation, no salt or bacteria to speed up the process of the sand bonding together is not the same as an actual functioning tank. I have switched four tanks from Crushed Coral to a DSB and none lasted for more than a couple of days. Once I found out about the powerhead trick by the next day the water was clear enough to see everything in the tank with only the very fine sand particles still suspended in the tank. Those particles then settled quite quickly.

Could you please mention this when telling others of what you are doing. Just so those lurking don't get the impresion that their tanks will never clear up if they use the oolitic sand. Mis information will just serve to confuse others. we are here to help get rid of the confusion. Not make more.

There are pros and cons for each type of "sand". I understand the desire to save a few dollars here and there but IMO & IME this is a hobby where if you don't spend the money and do it right the first time you will most likely end up redoing it.

[ 09 January 2002: Message edited by: DJ88 ]

[StirCrazy]

Darren actualy the sugar sand in my glass is clearing much faster than I have witnessed in tanks with cirulation and bacteria growth.. heck from saturday night to tonight is only 4 days the tank at the lfs took almost 2 weeks to clear the first time then another week after it was stired up. and there is lots of bacteria in the water I used.. it was strait out of my fishtank .. I didn't use tap water.

this power head trick does sound good but Ihave heard it befor and I am not sure I quite understand it.. by doing this won't you suck sand throught the tube into your powerhead?

hehe I didn;t mean to give the impresion that the sugar sand isn't clearing, it just isn't clearing as fast as the dolomite in the glasses. as far as I am concerned it doesent mater to me if it takes up to two weeks to clear I got nothin but time [img]images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

seriously thought my main concern in this exparament is how it affects the PH of the watter not the clearing ability.. that just turned out to be a suprising bonus.

Ph's today
dolomite 8.2
caribsea 8.0

Steve

[ 09 January 2002: Message edited by: StirCrazy ]

[DJ88]

Keep in mind this is a quick drawing.. [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]



How it works is that you take the outlet of the powerhead and attach some tubing to it. Submerge the other end deep in the sand bed and turn it on. [img]images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img] The sand bed acts as a trap for the smaller particles that were in suspension in your water column. Put more than one and you are moving twice the H2O and sand underneath. It makes a neat little bubbling area. looks like somehhting is coming up from under the sand. [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] Kinda like the worms on the movie Dune. [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

Hope this helps..

[StirCrazy]

haha ok I thought you were putting the suction end of the pump into the sand like a undergravel filter.. oh do I feel stupid now [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

Steve