Bad Sand?

[Puget Diver]

Hello Everyone,

Hope you all had a great holiday season!

I just picked up another 75 gallon setup from someone who wanted out of the hobby (pretty good deal; 75 gallon glass w/ overflow, stand, canopy, sump, pumps and all kinds of other test kits and misc stuff you get. Oh Yeah, and the reason I bought it, new dual 175 watt m/h (pfo) and 4/40 watt NO's. All for 300 bucks! And all the other stuff is less than a year old).

Oh yeah, and the reason for my post. He gave me 80 pounds of sand with it, but it hasn't been circulating for 4 months, just been sitting in the bottom of the tank and the bottom of a bucket with a little water. Is this sand salvageable? It has a slight rotten egg smell when it is stirred up. If it is salvageable, what would be the best way to save it? I was thinking about setting up the tank and just starting to run it, then after a few weeks maybe add some live rock. Any suggestions? or should I just throw it out?

Thanks for all the advice and great posts,

Brandon

[Reefland]

Brandon,

I would ditch the sand, chances are whatever might have been in it is dead now. It's simply not worth the risk if you ask me.

[Puget Diver]

Thanks for the quick reply Scott, out it goes. I kinda figured that was gonna be what had to happen but thought I would check. I have another question about sand. I read alot of people buy the home depot sand and seed it with live sand from another tank. Is this an ok idea, and if so, how much of my sand from my set up reef should I add to the new tank?

Thanks again for all the help,

Brandon

[Reefland]

That's perfectly fine if you can locate the Yard Right or Southdown play sand which is aragonite. I would bother with any of the other play sands that are silica. For seeding it, I would add a couple of cups from your tank, and even a couple of cups from other sources if you could; the more diversity in your bed the better.

[Puget Diver]

Thanks Scott,

I will start setting up the new tank this weekend.

Brandon