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live sand question

hI have 5 lbs of live sand that was in my sump that cracked. I put it in a container last night no heat or pump but it is in water will it still be alive by tomorrow morning or is it dead already please help thanks John (one more question about sump size in following thread)
 
5 pounds is such a small quantity - I would imagine it's ok unless the stuff is festering with detritus. If so then i'd dump it. Honestly what is 5 pounds of sand worth - like $2? $5? I'd pass if I wasn't sure.

Why do you have 5 pounds of sand in your sump? Is that your "refugium"? or - a "Deep sand bed"?

Honestly seems completely pointless to me - but that's just my thought.
 
I guess more like a refugium. I have a space where the water comes from the tank and then goes through the protien skimmer then a bubble trap then live sand rock and cheato then over flow to return pump got the plans from some site thanks John
 
If it is a small sump it would be a good place for pods and whatnot to grow...certainly not much of a biofilter but hey can just be for looks too. 

It will be OK for a day or two...follow Phils advice if really dirty. Of course you could also use clean water to just rinse it out too. Since it is probably not a deep sand bed you shouldn't have too many nasties being released. Some bacteria will stay attached shouldn't have a major spike or anything with that amount.
 
in my opinion rock and cheato is all you need. Any "crud" that floats in can be siphoned up. If you have sand in there I don't know how you siphon anything. The folks with big sumps can afford a large sand bed with the bac needed to reduce nitrates. But in a small sump - the benefits are limited in my opinion.

But being human as we are - we like to do "anything" rather than nothing so even a little sand may be helpful if set up correctly. (See CPR AquaFuge's with sand).

by the way - how did your sump crack?
 
I think it depends a bit on the setup as Hawk said. In my particular refugium I have mud with a layer of sand with a layer of rubble and then a floating thicket of cheato. Honestly my fuge works great and my live sand is really pretty thin...given I have layers in there like an onion. With filtersocks on my drains I really don't get much floating junk if you have fairly clean water as far as sizeable particles go then my opinion is to keep it.
 
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