Curing LR and Substrate

[jtshack]

Saw a guy on CraigsList that had some aquarium decorations I wanted (barnacles and such) and he gave me roughly 125# of LR and large substrate (he called it coral substrate) as a bonus (substrate is about the size of pellets for an air gun or 1/4 to 1/2 of a pencil eraser). He had the LR and SS in bags in a large trash can. It's all dry, so I'm assuming I need to do something with this before I can use it. What do I do to make this safe for my tank? I'm assuming I need to set the trash can up with salt water like I would do to prepare for a WC and then add the LR and SS and put a power head in there with it...is that right? Do I need to have a filter running in it as well? (I have a canister filter that would be perfect if it's necessary...) How long do I leave it? Or I guess the better question would be, how do I know when it's done? The substrate in my 120g is Fiji Pink and as fine as sugar...this stuff is chunky and I want to try it in a tank we're setting up for my son (he likes the predator fish - triggers and such).

Any suggestions? :confused2:

 

[etoh_is_good]

what was the sand used for previously? how long? both considerations in whether washing all that sand will be purposeful. you'll see a lot of posting on the forum with people who have live sand for free that has a reputable history. better to start off on a good foot opposed to setting up for long term problems.

 

[drnecropolis]

Was the rock and(sounds like crushed coral) sand in the tank when and if it was ever dosed with copper?

 

[jtshack]

etoh_is_good;173715 wrote: what was the sand used for previously? how long? both considerations in whether washing all that sand will be purposeful. you'll see a lot of posting on the forum with people who have live sand for free that has a reputable history. better to start off on a good foot opposed to setting up for long term problems.

He had a FO saltwater tank...states he had it for just over a year

DrNecropolis;173721 wrote: Was the rock and(sounds like crushed coral) sand in the tank when and if it was ever dosed with copper?

What's up Doc? He did call it crushed coral and I can't be 100% sure, but I don't think he ever dosed his tank with copper. He didn't strike me as being very "IN" to SW tank-keeping. He's going back to FW tanks because he says SW is just too much work. I've sent an email inquiring about the copper.

I hate to let this stuff go to waste...it's beautiful! :unsure:

 

[xyzpdq0121]

First off, Crushed coral is not the best thing to be using for a sand bed. If anything you can use it for the bottom layer of a deep sand bed and ot a refugium but be careful using it as your only sand bed. (http://www.wetwebmedia.com/deepsandbeds.htm">Read here to learn more</a>) If you use it, you are going to want to add some small to med grain sand on top of it.

Now what I recommend is to take some sand, add it to a bucket with RO water in it and let it sit for a day or teo. After that, test the water for copper and for Ammonia/NO3/NO3. What are your readings? If you get ANY copper, toss the sand, you will not be able to use it. If you get any Ammonia/NO2/NO3 then you are going to have to cure it.

 

[jtshack]

Xyzpdq0121;173847 wrote: First off, Crushed coral is not the best thing to be using for a sand bed.

Being so new at this, I'm hesitant to do the deep sand bed thing...on the other hand, this isn't my main tank, so maybe a little experimenting won't hurt.

Xyzpdq0121;173847 wrote: Now what I recommend is to take some sand, add it to a bucket with RO water in it and let it sit for a day or teo. After that, test the water for copper and for Ammonia/NO3/NO3. What are your readings? If you get ANY copper, toss the sand, you will not be able to use it. If you get any Ammonia/NO2/NO3 then you are going to have to cure it.

So doing this would eliminate any hazards down the road from copper treatments because it would show up now, right? If it doesn't show up within two or three days in the water, that means I'm safe ... right? :unsure: (now I'm nervous...)

 

[xyzpdq0121]

First of all, Why are you afraid of a deep sand bed?!? With the proper sand selection they are easier to maintain and more forgiving to new reefers, IMHO. I proper 4-6" Sand bed will help with water quality, encourage growth of favorable micro-organisms, and need less weekly maintenance. Win-Win on almost all accounts. Now, there is something to be said for bare-bottom tanks and even shallow sand beds (0-1.5") but for the first time reefer, I firmly believe a DSB (Deep sand bed) is the way to go! BTW: Stay away from a sand bed that is between 1.5" and 3", not many good point to be said about them and MANY bad things. So do not be scared of a DSB, it is your friend. Now if this is going to be a fuge, and you have a shallow sand bed in your display tank, then going with a DSB in the fuge is even better. Now you get the best of both world. You get the good points of the shallow sand bed that you can clean in the display tank plus the biological filter and the micro-organism properties of a DSB.

Ok now on to your current sand. Yes, in theory, if it was used for copper it should leach back out of the sand within a few days. Sand, among other things, is calcium. Calcium likes to absorb copper. So if there is copper there, the sand should have absorbed it and will release trace amounts of it. If it does not happen after a few days, then you are pretty safe in knowing that it is not going to happen. It worries be too that it was a FOWLR system. Many people try to dose copper and other medications in a FOWLR system that you just can not do with a reef tank. One other thing you might want to look at, was the "live rock" live or dry?!? If it was live, check it for tube worms and pods and such. If it came out of the same tank as the sand and there are still micro-creatures in it, you can assume that you are dealing with a clean piece of rock and thus clean sand. If it was dry rock (base rock, not live rock) then you do not have the same ability to see this.