Adding sand to established tank

Running a bit low on sand, would I be able to add more sand without causing another cycle?

 

Yes.

 

I would not add "live sand" though, just regular sand, rinsed in tap water. You may see some diatoms after adding the new sand, but that would be the only downside I can think of.

 

Out of curiosity why tap instead of RO/DI?

 

Same. Is it that the chlorine helps wash out dirt better?

 

IMO it's probably safer to rinse in RODI but these guys have been doing this a LONG time. There could easily be a reason.

 

You can do RO/DI and it would be better, but the little bit of tap water that might be added to the tank rinsing with tap is insuffiecent really. When you couple that with the cost of using your RO/DI water its just not really worth it.

I added new sand to 50% of my sandbed almost a week ago with no issues so far. Funny thing is my cyano grew back on the side of the tank with old sand but has not grown on the new sand yet. Makes me a little worried about what I might have covered up with new sand.

 

It takes a lot of water to properly rinse the sand, it shouldn't be a concern to use Rodi as extremely little if nothing from the tap water will transfer to the tank.

 

Exactly. Not worth the extra money for the wasted RO/DI water.

 

Agreed.