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arthuriv 
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 Topic: Using used sand?
Posted: August 28 2011 at 10:58pm |
I want everyone's opinions on this! I have some sand I got from an established tank I bought and it smelly really strongly like eggs. 1. Should I use it or would you use it? If I do decide to use it I would first rinse it in saltwater and only use some of it then add new sand to it. Thank you!
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BobC63
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Posted: August 29 2011 at 7:43am |
Rinse it super thoroughly in freshwater
Forget about trying to 'save' the bacteria by rinsing in saltwater
The "egg" smell is hydrogen sulfide and you need to get rid of all of it
You will end up with no longer "live" sand, but you can just seed it again with some asnd from an established tank
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Aquaristnewbie
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Posted: August 29 2011 at 9:28am |
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Personally i would toss it and use new sand. If ypu do buse it i would rine it really well like bob said.
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150 gallon Reef
Millcreek Utah
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MadReefer
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Posted: August 29 2011 at 10:13am |
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I've used the same sand over and over. Sometimes I just stir it up real well and then dump off the light stuff. Sometimes I rinse it well. I've never had a problem with it.
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DLindquist
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Posted: August 29 2011 at 10:44am |
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There's no problem reusing the sand after you rinse it really well in fresh water.
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Adam Blundell
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Posted: August 29 2011 at 11:14am |
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I wash it with a garden hose in a wheel barrow.
Adam
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: August 31 2011 at 8:35am |
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The smell of rotten egg gas indicates Sulfur reducing bacteria. This occurs in the lower layers of all DSB's and is a part of the natural processes of our tanks. You've heard of the Nitrogen Process(Cycle). Well there's also a Sulfur Process. Both are important to the maximum health of the tank. Deep beds of fine particle sand are especially prone to the condition. The layer below 2-3" of Oolitic sand is going to have this smell as well as a black coloration.
When moving a DSB, rinsing the bottom layer of sand in freshwater is not a bad idea because the presence of that gas means that there was enough detritus down deep in the sand bed to feed the bacteria. This same situation occurs when a 5 gal bucket full of LS is left to sit wet for more than a couple of days. The lack of O2 down below about 4-6 inches allows the Sulfur reducing bacteria to quickly grow and colonize. As you can imagine, the lack of O2 causes a lot of stuff to die, like worms that were in the sand and the O2 loving bacteria which had been in the shallow depths of the sand before it was stored in the bucket. The sand will also soon lose it's smell and it's black coloration when a normal depth of it is placed in a well circulated reef aquarium.
As Bob said, Rotten Egg Gas is a very low concentration of Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S). When it's very concentrated it cannot be smelled and it kills immediately. I've had an experience with it killing a fish. Only in very rare instances does the gas reach that concentration, but this potential has been the source of many rumors about never allowing it to even start. As I said above, it's actually a healthy process for a reef as long as the entire DSB is not disturbed before removing the major animals from the aquarium.
Edited by Mark Peterson - August 31 2011 at 8:39am
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kellerexpress
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Posted: August 31 2011 at 2:40pm |
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I personally never use used sand. It can be done but it's not worth the headache to me.
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rufessor
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Posted: September 15 2011 at 2:10pm |
Its ground up rock. You can clean it and use it. Simple, no danger, no worries. You could autoclave it if you wanted to. Its ROCK.
Dump it in a big deep bucket and run water through it via a hose down into the sand with constant stirring, if the bucket is deep enough no sand will overflow, but all the debris (that is not as heavy as rock) and fine particles will overflow out the top. When the water comes out clear on top your done and have sand I would envy to put into my tank, it will not cloud the water nearly as much as the "live" sand we commonly purchase but never rinse so its full of fine particles that ditry the water when disturbed.
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