Michigan Cichlid Association
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Ace2324 on September 14, 2015, 02:30:35 PM
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I just got a new 150 gallon tank, going to set up as a malawi african cichlids tank with some tangs in it. I found on craigslist somebody selling 130lbs of aragonite sand he had used in his saltwater tank for past 5 years, for $80. And I wanted to know if it can be used in my new tank, as it would save me a lot of money.
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Just rinse it out really good and you should be fine
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Really? I am not familiar with saltwater tank set ups at all, so i hope you can answer some of my questions:
1.) would rinsing get rid of chemicals/bacteria that was in the sand which was used for saltwater maintenance?
2.) would it cause PH to be really high in my freshwater tank?
3.) How confident are you that rinsing would make it usable again? i rather buy some sand than losing my fishies if its a 50/50 chance :/
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If you have chlorinated water, that will kill any bacteria growing on the sand. You're also rinsing it to dislodge any detritus that may be stuck in it as well. I'm also pretty certain that it won't absorb any chemicals or medications, so you should be safe there as well.
In my experience, the only issue I've heard about regarding medications that had a residual effect on tank inhabitants was using copper based treatments, which are toxic to invertebrates. This is why enthusiasts who keep reef tanks are leery about buying used aquariums because the copper can be absorbed by the silicone used to seal the aquarium.
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Awesome. Thank you for being informative. Appreciate it.
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You already got the right answer from Marty Ace but just to help add confidence I recently bought & repurposed 100#'s of coral sand from a salt water set up for a Malawi display. The sand had been sitting wet for a few weeks and it smelled rancid from dead bacteria. I gave it a good rinse until the smell was gone with chlorinated town water, and then a few more rinses for good measure. It has been in the fresh water set-up for 6 weeks now without any issue. All the best mate!
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thanks for the assurance! can't wait to set this new tank up
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So I added the aragonite sand. The tank was really cloudy for a couple of days, now it cleared up quite a bit. However there is this white filmy layer of stuff on top of the water.
Should I get rid of this?
Is it harmful to fish? (I don't have any fish in there now)
When can I add fish to the tank? I've been putting Seachem Stability for the past couple of days
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Maybe it's a protein film? Try using a very fine net to scoop it out.