Has anyone re-used sand from another system when upgrading? I figured I would rinse it till the RO is mostly clear then put it in my sump for a dsb. I know just moving sand is a bad idea but what if you rinse it all first? Also I was thinking of making a deep mud bed. I read on RC that it should be clay, they said to use cat litter. Is that correct?
I have read about the mud base as in Miracle Mud but not about using cat litter. I used old sand from an established tank when I started my 54. I didn't rinse it, just scooped it out of his tank into Totes and then dumped in into mine an hour or so later. I would not do this if I was going to immediately add livestock but if you are cycling the tank anyhow I would not be super concerned about a through rinse unless you have a lot of detritus.
also never heard of using cat litter, but you can certainly reuse sand. Once rinsed well, it will be "dead", but it will repopulate with life after a little while.
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If I'm not mistaken, some cat litter is Calcite or Dolomite. Both were used as substrates in the early (ancient?) days of marine aquarium keeping when UG filters were in vogue. Both turned out to be less than desirable, as did the UG filter, once Aragonite sand was found to be the superior substrate.
Dick
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