My sand reeks..

[Picasso]

Moving my 26 gallon tank downstairs. Have it down here with the sand and an inch or so of water and noticed my sand REEKS. Like a million dead fish. Is it "bad"? Should I change it? I have a couple cukes and I add bacteria every now and then, I would hate to loose all that life I've been working on but if it reeks, isn't it dead already? My cukes are definitely alive, saw them a few mins ago.

Thanks,
Catherine

 

[XxKnuckleheadxX]

all that bacteria is breaking down all the bad stuff in your tank thats in your sand like fish poop etc. im sure it wont smell good. leave it.

 

[Picasso]

Thank you!!

C

 

[Melosu58]

I never use old sand . Too much trash in there. Sand isnt that expensive and will keep from having another cycle.

 

[XxKnuckleheadxX]

its the sand in his tank now, hes just moving it downstairs. its live already gots lots of critters and bacteria already growing. i would leave it.

 

[XxKnuckleheadxX]

i mean her sorry!

 

[Picasso]

I spent a lot of time going slow with this tank to build up my sand community. My numbers have always been good and I think it's because I added stuff like Garf wonder mud and IPSF's bacteria. It is gunky but I want to keep it if I can. It's good to hear that I can keep it if I want to. Thanks, both of you.

C

 

[yote]

I gotta agree with Mike on this one.
When the sand is disturbed,it can release all kinds of nasties that can kill a tank pretty quick.
Personally,I'd wash that sand out good before reusing it.

 

[Bifferwine]

I used to think that preserving the sand was the best thing to do -- to just move it over, and not rinse it.

Then I moved the sand out of my 240 to my 90. That crap was NASSSSSSSTTTYYYY!!!

I rinsed all that sand out as best as I could.

 

[Melosu58]

I know that there is good bacteria and organisms but it`s not worth the risk. Tranfering that stuff over will cause one heck of an ammonia spike. I`ve seen it many times. Just my experience.

 

[wontonflip]

My 10g had a dsb. When I broke down that tank and moved everyone ot the existing 45, I took that sand out and my whole basement reeked. I rinsed it out a lot (got my hands nice and exfoliated :) ) and let it dry. I've mixed it w/ the rest of my dry sand in a tub which I use to make garf rock. But it was nasty!! Hence why I prefer not going w/ a dsb anymore.

 

[Tristan]

what if you moved the sand bed but kept it in water. thats what i did when i bought my aquarium from someone that lived like 30 minutes away and my sand bed didnt stink at all. took alot of muscle though lol

 

[Rcpilot]

When I set up my new frag tank, I filled the 20H refugium with 60lbs of new dry sand. I then scooped all 10 or 12lbs of sand out of the existing frag tank and dumped it into piles on top of the new dry sand in the 20H fuge. It didn't stink but it did smell like the ocean. :mrgreen:

 

[Tristan]

nice!

 

[sen5241b]

Maybe squeeze some water out of that sand test it for 'trates. But sand can harbor pockets of Hydrogen Sulfide --very bad-- so maybe rinse it good or ditch it.

 

[dcantucson]

I would use new sand. Then rinse the old sand in a tote outside with the water hose and let it completely dry, and save it for when it is needed next time.

 

[Picasso]

Then rinse the old sand in a tote outside with the water hose and let it completely dry, and save it for when it is needed next time.

That's really funny, David! :D

Saturday
Sunny. Highs near 5 below. Northwest winds 10 to 15 mph. Lowest wind chill readings 25 to 35 below in the morning.

 

[dcantucson]

Oops! I didn't think of that. It's still in the 60's here. Unusually warm for this time of year. Maybe the Mayans were right? :)