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

[FishyFishy!]

I have been debating putting a sand bed back in my 131 FOWLR due to the fair amount of wrasses I have been accumulating as of late. Most of the species I am keeping like to have the sand bed to hide and sleep in. All of the wrasses seem extremely happy and are nice and healthy so far, but I hate to make them go against their instincts and not feel comfortable.

But my real question is, being a bare bottom since setup, how do I go about adding a sand bed without causing any mini-cycles or issues? The bottom of my tank seems to have a decent amount of algae and smaller chunks of rock etc etc. Will covering it produce die off?

[globaldesigns]

Maybe cycle the sand in a seperate tank, but most of us don't have that... So if it was me, I would probably add a little bit at a time. Lets say, quarter inch or so, leave it for 1-2 weeks, then do the same, until you have the depth you want.

I would also really rinse it, prior to adding. But you knew that already

Good Luck!

P.S. I too have jumped on the wrasse bandwagon, great fish... Thicklip banner wrasse, potters, black leapord, bluish colored leopard, 6 line (I love the quirkiness of six lines).

[FishyFishy!]

Yeah I might cycle it before dropping it in. I have tanks everywhere around here that could help me do that.

My wrasse collection so far looks like this:

Melanurus Wrasse
Solar Wrasse
Female Pencil Wrasse
Cleaner Wrasse
Red Coris Wrasse
Seagrass Wrasse (which is the craziest character of a fish I have ever had)

[FitoPharmer]

If it is new sand from a bag I wouldn't bother adding it a little bit at a time or cycling it before adding it. If your bottom is covered in life I would give it a good brush, scrape, vac before adding the sand, maybe with your next water change? Anything left after that is most likely less then a over feeding or two, that your tank would handle right? If you rinse your sand well, choose a proper grain size for your water movement and needs, and add it carefully. There is only one sand storm that you have to clean up.

[daplatapus]

I'd agree. If it's new sand, I wouldn't "cycle" it. It's not like live rock, there's nothing alive on it to die and give off ammonia. Putting it in a tank to cycle it will create life on it that will possibly create a cycle in the display tank once you move it.
Easiest way to add it to your new tank is get a chunk of pipe with a nice big funnel in one end. Stick the other end down to the bottom of your tank and get someone to slowly pour in your rinsed sand as you slowly move the pipe around the bottom of your tank depositing the new sand where you want it.
IMHO, I'd add it all at once. If you add 1/2" then wait and add more later, the top layer will kill some of what's grown on the bottom layer. If it's all new sand it won't matter if you add 2" all at once.

[oyf709]

It will never work in this case, you will never prevent the "cicle" happen as it need settle sand bed to build up the bacteria level.

[oyf709]

Originally Posted by oyf709

It will never work in this case, you will never prevent the "cicle" happen as it need settle sand bed to build up the bacteria level.

i meant to say cycle lol

[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.