live sand question

[b_shady]

I pulled out around 40lbs of live sand from a tank a few months ago and have had it sitting in a clear plastic container, Ive added top off water to it once. I recently put the sand into a new tank i set up and still had some live nassarius snails in it. The sand water was almost black when i stirred it up before putting it in the tank. My question is do you think i can skip a new cycle for the tank or should i just start a new cycle with that sand?:afraid:

 

[b_shady]

anyone?

 

[LotsaFishies]

There is still some amount of live bacteria in there, but a lot of it would have died off due to lack of circulation/oxygen and heat. (assuming you didn't have a heater of powerhead) The remaining live bacteria will certainly help kick start the new tank, however all the die-off will definitely need to go through a cycle and get cleaned out. Running a skimmer, carbon, and doing water changes will get the nasties pulled out a lot quicker...

 

[MechaSamurai]

I agree, don't rush it or you will lose livestock. You can also kick up some nasties that were locked in the sand from the last tank so make sure you test for everything possible, a bottle and a trip to an LFS may be a good idea if you don't have/plan to buy lots of test kits.

 

[b_shady]

itested the ammonia and it was at .1 and no nitrites. Thanks for the help guys. I just couldnt believe the nassarius snails were still alive

 

[sssmasss]

hm.. hahaha i actually know this.. it happened to me when i set up my tank again.. i rush into it and my tank didnt last long.. dont rush into.. the dead bavteria are bad bacteria..