Another sand ?

[mortman]

I've just ordered 2 20 lb. bags of "Nature's own" livesand.
I'm going to put this on top of my southdown sand.

I've had my live rock in my tank for about 3 weeks now.
All kinds of stuff has fallen off of the rocks and onto the
sandbed. It's mostly pieces of dead plant material and
mucky deitrus looking stuff.

Should I try to vacuum up some of this stuff? Or just
put the new "Live" sand on top?

also...the nitrogen cycle is not completely over yet. I'm
reading some nitrites. Should I wait until the nitrite is
zero before putting in the Livesand?

thanks
mortman

[mrok12]

I woulg gently siphon the detritous off the sand bed. If it is true live sand it may help to expediate the process of cycling the tank though.

MROK12

[Ninong]

Mortman,

You're wasting your money on Nature's Own Live Sand. If you wanted to use a little of it, you should have used it to begin your cycle.

First of all, it's a good bit larger grain size than Southdown. Second of all, it is not live sand in the sense that most people think of live sand. It has no beneficial "critters." All it has is dormant bacteria. The same kind of bacteria that will establish themselves naturally in your tank within hours of starting your cycle. The only thing it is good for is to speed up the cycle in a brand new setup. If you want to put a little bit of it on top of your Southdown sand at this point, I wouldn't put more than about an 1/8" thick layer.

You will still need some real live sand and/or a detrivore kit. In fact, you just about have to get a detrivore kit unless you have a friend with a well established live deep sand bed who is willing to spare a couple of pints of sand.

Ninong

[icemark]

I agree completely with Ninong.

[mortman]

My ears are wide opened guy's.
Would you please recommend a place to get the detrivore
kit . And should I wait untill the cycle is completed ?

Thanks and I mean it. If I keep on making costly mistakes
like this one I will be broke before the time to buy corals lol.

CYA
mortman

[Ninong]

Yes, wait until just after the cycle is completed. Here are a couple of places:

http://www.ipsf.com/

http://www.inlandaquatics.com/

[mortman]

WOW, I just did a test on my nitrites and was amazed that I
could not even get a reading. Nitrates are also near zero.
Feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew!!! Cycletime = Stresstime lol.

I also spotted a few critters crawling around on the rocks.
3 snails and 2 nudibranchs all very small.

I am going to order the sand critter kit tomorrow. And 5 lbs.
of real Livesand.

Would someone please make this decision for me. I still
have a lot of dead detritous/plant material laying on top of
my sandbed. If I try to gently vacuum some of this stuff up
won't I also vacuum up any life that is mixed in with it???
If I look closely at the sand bed, I can actually see some very
small creatures crawling around in the mess. Some look like
small fleas.

Please help. -----------------> Mortman