FFEric06

So my 35gall is established. but i have a spare 10 gallon tank here at home. I wanna cure some live rock in there and also turn some sand into live sand. Then i want to transfer them to my 35 gallon. Whats the easiest way to transfer the live sand to my 35 gallon?i was actually thinking about taking a piece of pvc, 3 inch wide.....putting a funnel on the top and having the wife dump the sand in that while i distribute it amongst the tank floor. Anyone have any problems with that? the reason i am doing this is cause i want to make the bed depth deeper its only about 1.5-2 deep in most spots. any help would be much appreciated
I also wanna know if i NEED a protien skimmer to cure live rock or if a mechanical filter will suffice.
Setup


35 gallon tall hex
emperor 280
CSS 65gallon
2 maxi 400 power heads

Tommy Gun

IMHO, your plan sounds great to me, and I wish you would have brought it up sooner! I have added sand to my tank a couple of times now and I just used a net to take it from one tank, allowing it to drain well in the hopes that the silt would be left behind, and then I just carefully lowered it to the bottom of my tank. The PVC pipe idea would most likely give you a lot better control over where the sand ends up, which would be a great asset.

I don't think that you will need a skimmer for a curing tank and in fact, when I bought my live rock, I got it out of a big plastic tub that didn't have any real filtration to speak of. I have also kept live rock in a quarantine tank with nothing more than a cheap HOB filter when I was in a pinch and that live rock was just fine. Typically, a skimmer is not an absolute 'must have' for any tank, although they are highly recommended. I have to admit that I went almost two months without any skimmer on my reef tank. Other than a few more water changes, everything was fine.