Adding Live Sand to an Established tank

[RuGlu6]

Ok I have done it many times, however be very mindful and proceed with caution.
Keep in mind that if you have a relatively deep sand bed I would not risk it.
Anything deeper then 3 inch will have layers of different bacteria and different oxygen content. In that case I would not do it. the bacterial die off will be massive and pollution is unnecessary.
If you only have one inch or so just go ahead and dump it in to the other tank, no problems.
hth

[Oscar]

When I first set up my nano tank a few years ago I started with 1-3" of live sand which I think was Caribsea Arag-Alive.

But after numerous vacuums and probably some dissolving it is time to add some more sand. The fine particles (<1mm) of the current sand is a real collector of detritus.

I have purchased a small bag of Carib crushed coral substrate which is listed as 2-5 mm. At this stage I am not sure if I will gradually do a "swap" of fine sand for coarser material or just slowly add and mix the two together. I will have to consider this in context of creatures I want to add in the future.

I am proposing to add this gradually to the tank, perhaps a couple of cups per day. Since it is not inoculated with bacteria I will dig a hole to add this to, so as not to bury the existing sand.

Any thoughts on adding / changing sand?