Help with DSB!!!

[jenmar]

Hello everyone.
It's been 6 months since I set up my 55 gallon saltwater tank. It has a sand bed of 3 inches of fine aragonite and live sand. I went to the store today and purchased 40 pounds of moon light sand (extremely super fine) by: Carib Sea. This is powder like sand, a lot smaller than sugar size. I want to make my DSB one and a half inches higher. I was wondering if I could put this sand on top of my aragonite or mix it with it so I can make it deeper. My only concern is that the sand is extremely fine. Will I be making a mistake or will this help me?
Regards, Jen

[Reefland]

Hi jenmar, Welcome to Reefland!

You can certainly add this sand to your aqaurium but it is going to be a bit messy and cause some cloudiness. It would be best to add it directly to the top of your existing bed with no mixing. It is safe to add .25-.5" at a time and ensure you don't affect any of the life that is currently within your bed. The worse part is going to be the cloud.

To minimize the cloud some people have used a PVC pipe that reaches to the bottom of their tank and pour the sand very slowly through it. Others have put it in a bag with water and submersed the bag to the bottom of the tank and cut a very small hole in the corner to allow it to slowly pour out. These 2 are probably the best methods but it still going to get messy.

Good luck!

[jenmar]

Thank you for your info Scott.

I see that you are the owner of this forum (am I correct? ) so I am glad I heard it from you. I am just a little afraid because the sand is so fine it looks like a thick soup when I add water to it. If I put it on top of my other substrate will it rob oxygen. it is just so thick, maybe I am just a little paranoid. I have quite a nice lot of livestock, I dont want anything to go wrong because of its fine-ness. Please reassure me once more so I will be happy , the sand is very, very fine!

Regards, Jen

[Reefland]

Yes I am a co-owner of this site.

You will be fine, just take it very slow with your addition and to be safe, go for .25" at a time. I am not familiar with this specific sand but it should be fine.

[No_Floaters]

I used a piece of PVC pipe that reached the bottom of the tank & a funnel to add more sand to mine. Also turned off the pumps.

Some people will tell you to rinse it & others will tell you rinsing takes out the fine particles that you need. Either way will work I guess. Rinsing reduced the cloudiness for me. Letting the sand dry out in the sun will help make it easier to pour.