Adding aditional Live Sand

[omegatron]

I've got a 110 gallon tank that I've been running since November and I've decided to add in more live sand. I'm curious if I need to move the fish/hermit crabs out of the tank before I do? and will adding live sand over the existing sand bed cause any kind of die-off cycle? Also when adding is it best to turn off any power heads?

it has a sump filter and approx. 100lbs of live rock
inhabitants:
-40 hermit crabs
-2 pencil urchins
-1 serpent and 1 brittle star
-1 foxface
-1 tang
-2 damsels


also my original sand bed was black, if I'm going to add in a lighter color can I mix the two layers without causing die off?

[Rostr02]

First off welcome to TR.

How deep is your sandbed at this time? And how much additional sand do you plan on adding?

Bob

[omegatron]

its 1 1/2-2 inches. i was thinking of doubling it. or at least adding another inch around the way. I have only one other cycled 10g tank i could keep things in.

[Phurst]

You're in kind of a gray area there. most folks reccomend either a SSB of 1/2" or less, or a DSB of 4" or more. If you're going to add sand, use dry, dead sand. bagged live sand will be full of dead and dying stuff, and will likely cause at least some kind of ammonia/nitrate spike. I've added sand to an existing tank before and have found it wise to add 1/2" at a time and let things adjust for several days before adding more. if you dump in an additional 2" of sand, you're going to smother the microfauna and bacteria currently in the aerobic areas of your sand bed, impacting their ability to process ammonia and nitirite as well as adding to those levels as things in the sand bed suffocate.

[Skurvey Dog]

If you worked a small section at a time, that would work also. As Phurst said, use dry sand. You can take a pipe & funnel to use to direct the sand you are applying. I have found that if I rinse the sand I'm going to use to get the majority of small loose particles out of it and let it dry before I use it, it does not have a major sand storm cloud when I put it in the tank. Just an idea.