reusing dried live sand

[Ray]

so here is my question, I am adding a 40 breeder to my system and have a 15 lb bag of caribsea dry sand and another 15 lbs of dry sand that came from another tank I bought, when I bought the tank it was already dry with crud in it and even a couple of dead hermits

well I sifted all the stuff out of the sand and rinsed it several times (3 or 4) and it is currently soaking in a bucket.

Should I rinse this more? Or am I risking a cycle if I use it? Would there be problems if I put this in first and the new clean sand over it?

thanks
Ray

 

[sumpmonkey]

The only way to totally avoid a cycle would be to add all the sand mixed together very slowly over the course of a week or so.add a couple pounds a day to let the let the biological field catch up. I have added many tanks over the years back in the early 90s i went from a 100 gallon system to 2000 gallons in less than 4 months.and never had an ammonia spike or a nitrate bump

 

[wrassefan]

I would rinse smaller batches 'til completely clean and clear....then add as if new sand. I would add a few cups of live sand on top layer for biological and life

 

[Ray]

That is what I was thinking Andy, I am not sure I want to go through the hassle of adding sand every week to the system nor do I want to cause any stress on my corals in the cube.

What I am thinking is that I will rinse the sand till clear and make it the bottom layer in the tank then add the layer of new sand then seed with some sand from the cube. I will also be adding some live rock from my sump and display as well as some dry rock that has been thoroughly cured in fresh water.
Worse case I ditch the old sand an go buy another bag of new sand, I just hate to waste it. If the tank was not going to be tied into my display I would not care

Maybe let that circulate for a few days on its own then start a slow trickle from the return pump and open it a little more every day until I reach my desired flow.

Thanks for the input guys!

 

[wrassefan]

Ray, I've done what you are thinking of doing. Should be enough life in the live sand to culture clean old sand. With enough live rock, I had no cycle.

 

[JohnK]

Another option would be to give it a good bleach soak to dissolve out any organics, then rinse well and dry leaving simple clean dead sand.