Changing from black sand to white

I would not re-use the sand from your 29. Doing so runs the risk of a cycle and all kinds of nastiness. I highly recommend base sand if you are going to replace your sand.

 

It Doesn't look that bad at all, i may just mix it BUT did you do it when it was brand new?! b/c mine is about 7 months old and is pretty gross... im going to put some more powerheads in it to push everything around (hopefully) and then just scoop it out, and if i have to take everything out, well its not like it was in buckets before, that's how i got it home lol and it wouldn't take me that long to do it.

 

The sand in my 29 was just put it in, at max a month ago, and it was all bought brand new, and by base sand? what do you mean? like play sand?? then my established sand on top?

 

Well yea i hope thats not the case for me! Sorry to hear you lost everything!

 

I may siphon it out but i dont want my rock to fall and risk cracked glass, i moved my rock just recently but im thinking i may do it again, b/c i need more clearance on the sides to get my mag-float in there, Thanks for the help!!

 

Mine is new. As for old sand detritus isn't really a big deal, you can rinse the sand in tank water, or salt water. Just go a little bit at a time. My understanding is, the real issue is toxins with low solubility, such as some metals for example. Basically, what happens is the water column can only handle so much and the rest precipitates. It then gets coated with organics and sticks to the substrate, so, just rinsing doesn't necessarily remove it, however, they are semi-soluble, so whenever levels in the water column are reduces, so dissolves and is re-introduced into the water column. Carbon, skimming, gfo, filter floss ect may help remove these, but if there is enough in the substrate more may dissolve making it difficult to lower the levels.

So, most experts seem to say when changing or moving tanks, sand under two years old is probably ok, to reuse sand, but it may be worth dumping after that. I think this is probably conservative though and at 7 months, you should be ok. Especially if your good about water changes, running carbon, skimming etc...

Hope that helps.

-m

 

Thanks! i do my regular bi-weekly water changes, and i run a nitrate-loc, and a phosphate-loc, along with a carbon floss filter, and my skimmer is never shut off unless, my tank pump is off. what i may do is just take out maybe half the black sand? and then just put the 40lbs of white ive got in it, so ill have a total of 60lbs, and eventually it will mix itself, and more white then black wouldnt bother me at all! Thanks again for the input!

 

If i can find the picture of mine it looks more white then black. I did like a 80/20 mix with more of the white.

That is a distance shot


Up close


Hope this helps

 

hey dude i have the black and white and love it..its a little different from the norm..

 

Looks great, im almost sure thats what im going to do! i just have to plan a day to do it! once i do i will take pictures, now would it be ok to mix the new sand with the black?? or should i let my powerheads do the work??