# sand has been sitting for a while... can i still use??



## sheetmetal (Dec 17, 2005)

hey guys i bought a 135gal tank about 3-4 weeks ago and it was set up salt.... i also took to bucket of substrate(sand and cc) that was in that salt tank. i still have the bucket here and am switching my 70gal to salt and am curious if i can still use that sand and crushed coral. it smells like death, but i dont see how it will hurt anything. it is sitting in a sealed bucket with water, so would the bacteria still be alive???

also, when i set this new tank up. To get it cycling, i want to put a crap load of live rock in it right away. But the problem is that the live rock i am getting has a ton of living things on it as well as a few corals(waving hand, ect). So, my question to you is... will i damage the coral and such by putting them into a fresh set up that is going to go through everything that a new tank does...?

thanks for any help...

Nick


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

well you are definately going to have die off but to minimise it would be a good idea to load the sand first and run a skimmer until you can get your levels reduced it will cycle from old sand, if the rock is "cured" there will still be a certain level of cycle as teh bacteria levels reach and equlibrium with the existing enviromnet with the sand..

i do that by adding the sand and water and going through the cycle of the old sand first would reduce the potential die off when the rock it added


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## sheetmetal (Dec 17, 2005)

thanks for the reply... but i just ended up getting some new live sand... i was worth the $40 a bag to not have my house smell like that old bucket of wate for a few days... i also just added my rock... it looks pretty good and i got it for a good price. 65lbs for $300. it came with some nice coraline alge on it as well as a few nice little corals... will post pics when the tank clears up a bit.


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## spinalremains (Nov 10, 2006)

sheetmetal said:


> thanks for the reply... but i just ended up getting some new live sand... i was worth the $40 a bag to not have my house smell like that old bucket of wate for a few days... i also just added my rock... it looks pretty good and i got it for a good price. 65lbs for $300. it came with some nice coraline alge on it as well as a few nice little corals... will post pics when the tank clears up a bit.


You're likely going to see some die-off even with the live sand. You may also see a mini-cycle starting in the next few days. Keep an eye on your alkalinity reserve as the cycle will drop your alkalinity some. I can't wait to see the pics, I'll be setting up a saltwater 135 soon this summer. Good luck!


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## sheetmetal (Dec 17, 2005)

here are a few pics... still real cloudy and waiting for my new light to come in... but it will geve ya idea of what i got


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## spinalremains (Nov 10, 2006)

Are those aiptasia anemone? If so, I would get a few peppermint shrimp to eat those dirty bastards!!!


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## sheetmetal (Dec 17, 2005)

spinalremains said:


> Are those aiptasia anemone? If so, I would get a few peppermint shrimp to eat those dirty bastards!!!


i am not sure what almost anything on the rock is... just getting into the salt thing... have had a small 30g for a year but never got into coral at all. if anyone can tell me what is on the rock that would be great... and if it is good or bad


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## spinalremains (Nov 10, 2006)

Post some more pics when the water is clearer. If you have aiptasias, they are a total pain in the ass. You might want to look them up.


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## sheetmetal (Dec 17, 2005)

it cleared up pretty quick... let me know what ya think...


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

this is a helpful link

http://www.xtalworld.com/Aquarium/hitchfaq.htm


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## spinalremains (Nov 10, 2006)

nismo driver said:


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Great job Nismo!


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## jasert39 (May 1, 2003)

hell of a response nismo nice work, you definitely have some good stuff and some bad stuff on there. Look up ways to get rid of that apastia before it over runs your tank.


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

for a 70gal to get rid of the aptasia you could try a copper banded butterfly fish they are really cool looking and are known to eat aptasia but might be finiky eaters so it may be a chanllange to keep it well fed but deifnately a cool fish to have.. another natural option is pepermint shrimp but theres no guarentee they will go after it..

chemical options are conventrated kalk or joes juice injected directly on / into the aptasia but this too is no guarentee and if you dont kill the whole thing and i mean every last bit they will grow back and multiply


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## sheetmetal (Dec 17, 2005)

hey guys got a few more pics....

donno what the heck this green bubble thing is....










and there are these little fireworms or bristleworms... donno which and dont know if they are bad or not...



















and some mushrooms or something...










should i be feeding the stuff in here anything??? or will it sustain itself with what is in the tank??? also... how long do you think i should wait till i start adding shrimp to eat that aptaisa??? i also read somewhere that hermit crabs might work too... any help would be great


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

green bubble is bubble algea, if you can pick it off without bursting it give it a try, the stuff can spread and be stubborn, natural consumors are green emerald mythrix crabs.

most likely those are bristle worms which are prefectly safe and bennificial to the tank

that other pic isnt very clear but does look like mushrooms..

you dont need to feed the tank.

do not add any thing until the tank is defiantely cycled and stable or its a good chance youll be throwing away money.. 
one it is cycled you should definately get a cleaner crew, astrea snails, cerith or margarita snails blue leg hermits red leg hermits, maybe a myrix crab or a sea cucumber, made small brittle stars..

do you have a skimmer? before you spend money on fragile life invest in the right equipment to sustain that life, get a good HOB skimmer plan on 150 - 200 bucks and dont get a seaclone.. it will pay for its self in the number of fish and corals that it will keep healthy


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## sheetmetal (Dec 17, 2005)

i have a prisum skimmer on it already... but i just added a picaso trigger to help it cycle quicker... i am testing the water daily and if i get a spike i will move the trigger to my other tank... another question i got is... will it hurt a fish to eat the fire worms??? cuz the trigger ate a couple and it made a loud noise when he ate them like a popping sound that i heard louder then the movie i was watching and now he is acting funny. i am not sure yet if i wanna keep him... but he was only 25 bucks and i have a friend that will take him if i decide not to keep him around. thanks again


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## Coldfire (Aug 20, 2003)

Be careful with the Humu Picasso Triggerfish, it will rearrange the landscaping and rocks as it wanders in and out of the caves. So you could end up with a rock slide if your LR structure is not stable. Also, it will eat corals. So, the Xenia, Mushrooms, sponges, etc.. can/will be eaten. A Picasso Trigger will vocalize using a "grunting" sound. So more than likely, that is the noice that you are hearing.

Eating the bristal worms should be fine. If it stung him, he would have spit it out.

Just an FYI:
The Humu Picasso Triggerfish needs a varied diet of meaty foods including; squid, krill, clams, small fish and hard shelled shrimp to help wear down their ever growing teeth.


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

first of all why would you add a fish to speed the cycle when you already ahve LR and sand inteh tank with decaying life that will do more then enough to start teh cycle?

adding fish wont speed up the natural growth of bacteria. the only reason people add fish to new tank is to introduce waste to create a raise in amonia to start the cycle, this is not necessary to damage a fish or force it live through the cycle to cycle a tank. its a very juvinile uneducated approach.

second a trigger of any kind it is a terrible choice for a reef tank, it will eat corals as stated but will also eat your cleaner crew that you should have in there (would have been better to get snails and hermits for the cost of thet trigger).. not tomention they are quite aggresive and will harrase anything in the tank if it isnt larger or moreaggresive, so by having a trigger you have greatly reduced the types of fish you can stock.

what exactly is your intention for this tank? reef or FOWLR?

what kind of lighting do you have?

that loud noise could have been a mantis shrimp or a pistol shrimp or the trigger could have caused the rocks to shift making the noise..


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## sheetmetal (Dec 17, 2005)

nismo driver said:


> first of all why would you add a fish to speed the cycle when you already ahve LR and sand inteh tank with decaying life that will do more then enough to start teh cycle?
> 
> adding fish wont speed up the natural growth of bacteria. the only reason people add fish to new tank is to introduce waste to create a raise in amonia to start the cycle, this is not necessary to damage a fish or force it live through the cycle to cycle a tank. its a very juvinile uneducated approach.
> 
> ...


i am actually going this afternoon to look at a 80G reef set up that is for sale... if i can pick that up, i am going to make the 70 an agressive FOWLR (and whatever existing coral that doesn't get eaten). at the moment i just have a 48" power glow and i want to decide what direction i am going with the tank b4 i got get lighting.... cuz if i can pick up the 80gallon it is a year old reef set up and then i will just get t5's for my 70 cuz it will just be fowlr.


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

is this your first salt tank?

it might not be a bad idea to go FOWLR, it would definately be far less expensive and since you dont have am overflow setup with a sump it would be less sucessfull as a reef tank..

one thing to also be aware of is that canister filters on salt tanks require more frequent maintenance then your typical fresh water setup, phosphates can be much more fo a problem in salt tanks then in fresh water and even with a fowlr it is still importnat to keep you calcium and alkalinity levels inteh proper range, they should lower at a slower rate with out an abundance of corals consuming them but it is still importnat for a healthy setup to have all you paramters stable and correct, a FOWLR would be a good starting place to learn more about salt tank issues and will prep you for the challenges of a reef tank.

plus there are plenty or awesoem fish that would be graat for a fowlr.. australian tusk is one of my favorites and there are plenty of interesting other wrasse available..


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## spinalremains (Nov 10, 2006)

One more thing to consider using a canister filter or HOB is if you decide to use carbon, you will have to do larger and more frequent water changes since carbon will remove trace elements quickly. Your pre-mixed seawater will replenish these elements.


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## sheetmetal (Dec 17, 2005)

i have been doing weekly water changes... missed the odd one on my small salt tank that i have a had for about a year now... but it is just now that i am actually getting a bit of time to look into all the cool things i can do in a salt tank. i am tired of the damn clowns and damsels... time for something a little less stupid


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## spinalremains (Nov 10, 2006)

sheetmetal said:


> i have been doing weekly water changes... missed the odd one on my small salt tank that i have a had for about a year now... but it is just now that i am actually getting a bit of time to look into all the cool things i can do in a salt tank. i am tired of the damn clowns and damsels... time for something a little less stupid


If you have any live rock, good luck catching the bastards!


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## sheetmetal (Dec 17, 2005)

haha ya i was kinda thinking bout that... but it won't be to bad cuz i will probably empty my 30 into the 80 when i get it so the rock will be all gone... or maybe just put in the trigger to make them disapear


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