Can you add sand to a tank allready running?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
pvc works well for getting it to the bottom of the tank.... however unless the sand is dry its a PITA... its going to cloud no matter what you do.. im a fan of just putting the whole bucket of sand into the tank and letting gravity dump it out..

putting some thick polyfill pads on the intakes to all your filters will help however you are going to need to change it a few times within the first hour and then every few hours after that... even with the prefilters you are still going to get some extra buildup in the canisters..
 
chesterthehero;3926181; said:
pvc works well for getting it to the bottom of the tank.... however unless the sand is dry its a PITA... its going to cloud no matter what you do.. im a fan of just putting the whole bucket of sand into the tank and letting gravity dump it out..

putting some thick polyfill pads on the intakes to all your filters will help however you are going to need to change it a few times within the first hour and then every few hours after that... even with the prefilters you are still going to get some extra buildup in the canisters..
Click to expand...

what i did was sink the 5 gal bucket .. then slowly poor it out..
 
I've heard there a couple vidoes on you tube showing you different methods to do this never checked it out myself but might be worth a look.
 
I have the same setup as you, minus the ac110. I just rinsed the sand in a bucket and added the sand using a plastic cup. poured the sand out at the bottom of the tank. After I was finished adding the sand i waited about an 30min and then cranked on the filters. I stuffed my top trays with polyfill before adding the sand though. Cleared the tank up in about 40min crystal clear. Than I just pulled out the nasty poly fill afterwards. No harm to my filters.

btw, how do you like the ac110 on your tank along with the fx5's? andwhat purpose does it serve? Ive read a few post with people doing this. Ive been thinking of picking one up but not exactly sure what i would be trying to acheive with it. Thanks!!
 
Jeff,
The pool filter sand I used sank to the bottom so there was no issues with the filtration. The fish were completely fine. What type of rays did you pick up?
 
turn off any impeler driven device flop it in there no right or wrong way just wash it first
 
i just did this recently, Wash the sand really good. I filled grocery bags up with the sand, and when i set them down, i just ripped the bottom of the bag and the sand is on the floor of the tank. I did about 70lbs, and my ol lady saves bags after grocery shopping so i had plenty of those.

Make sure you turn the filter off, and after you get it spreaded around, give it a few minutes to settle and your good to go.
 
I put it straight from the bag to the tank. Let it settle for 30 minutes to an hour and then flip the pumps back on.
 
jeff PM me if you need to know where to get sand. i can get you bags for $7-8 for 50lbs (prices last time i got it)

how much are you going to add??

just make sure you rinse it well, and there shouldnt be any issues.

as its been said, just turn filters off for ~30 min, and you should be fine

Ive never tried the PVC method, but i never had any issues with just dumping the bucket in. its going to be a little cloudy no matter how you do it, but the PFsand sinks pretty fast IME

let me know if you need a hand with anything
 
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