substrate

[droopy395]

on a different site I seen a Guy ask if you had live sand already in your tank and wanted to add more sand, could you add a silica based sand? Would it "seed" like rock does? I think no, but am far from experienced enough to answer the question. Think it was asked because with live stock in the tank, doesn't want to cloud it up.


saltwater noob

 

[Tank2379]

Dry sand is never live when you put it in your tank you need to seed it from another Tank thats been up for more than a year

 

[MMreef]

Silica based sand has no place in reef tank. It will feed diatoms and cause other problems like low PH values. You want aragonite based sand. To answer your question , you can add new sand in to established one and it will seed and become live with time.

 

[fwadiver]

you dont want to use silica based sand ever, it will fuel mad algea growth, but if you did add it, it would seed with bacteria the same as aragonite based sand. it doesnt take a year for bacteria to seed, but you do have to be wary when adding extra dry sand/rock to a already live tank as it can put it thru another mini cycle.

 

[Siebo]

+1 Silica is a big no no!

Silica based sand has no place in reef tank. It will feed diatoms and cause other problems like low PH values. You want aragonite based sand. To answer your question , you can add new sand in to established one and it will seed and become live with time.