Adding a sand bed at a later time.....

[Slick Fork]

Just adding another vote for doing a small amount at a time via a pipe that reaches all the way to the bottom!

[lpsreefer]

Doing it adding small amounts but remember to rinse the sand first the super fine powder sand plays havoc on a system.
I ran I test in my little tank by putting sand in a container put it to te down of my tank under down after rinsing and then just let gravity push the sand out worked out well. But it was only a 20 gallon with damsels. Two pieces of live rock. Didn't cycle or have any spikes. The test was only a week long.

You just gotta avoid the cloudiness by stirring to much sand up.

[morecowbell]

I want to do the same thing, however right now my tank has about 2-2.5" of crushed coral on the bottom. I got it on recommendation from lfs and thinking I'd like it but it's been in there for 6 months now and I hate it. So how do I go about removing it safely? I have a 65g.

Should note that I do vacuum a selected area whenever I do a water change. So vacuum say 1 corner, and next change do another corner.

[Leah]

I have added and have taken away sand...no biggie. Maybe go slow if at all worried.

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by Slick Fork

Just adding another vote for doing a small amount at a time via a pipe that reaches all the way to the bottom!

+whatever number we're at

[lastlight]

New sand well rinsed should do nothing really. It's not alive at all and shouldn't really have anything on it to rot.

If you cycled sand in another tank and then moved it the sand itself would have die-off all over it from being moved and create problems I think.

[lastlight]

Originally Posted by sphelps

+whatever number we're at

whatever number we're at++;

[kien]

I just recently replaced the sand bed in my tank. Scooped out all the old sand and dumped in new sand (carefully of course). I've done this in the past too without any issues (and will likely continue to replace my sand every couple of years or so) aside from a short lived diatom bloom.

[NIVLEM09]

I've just added sand to my already cycled tank 12 days ago and i haven't seen any negative effects on my critters/tank.just rinse the sand good before dumping it in...