I suggest we have a reef frag fest for our next meeting (or call it a frag swap meet) if the topic still hasent been determined.  It seems there are a number of us that have coral frags we'd like to sell/trade with each other and the meeting makes it easy to hook up.  A lot of people do this anyway during the meeting but if all those making frags were to bring a few the variety would be awesome.

I have a question about swapping sand.  I can see that by swapping sand it has the possibility of adding a diversity of benificial critters to your tank and if you are just starting up it can jump start your system.  On the other hand it would seem like you have the possibility of adding some unwanted organisms and parisites to your tank.  My question is whether trying to add the diversity of different tanks is worth the risk? 

I have not yet set up a tank and am wondering if this is a risk worth tanking when starting my tank or if just starting with live rock would be a better solution.

Just wanting peoples opinoins,  Thanks.

Great question Kevin!!!  I for one am skeptical and I am surprised at how enthusiastic some people are too swap sand.  Here is what I say....

If you are new or your tank is not perfect then trade some sand around.  But if you have a great looking tank (as many people here do) then why chance anything.  So for me, I don't want to add sand unless I see the tank it came out of.  But hey, that's just me and my $.02.

Adam

Kevin,

IMO, if I'm starting a new tank then I'd try to get some "used" sand.  It'll help speed up the cycle and the odds of getting something bad from the sand is probably as likely as getting something bad from the live rock.

The other issue when trading sand... I've been reading more and more that DSBs are the depository of the heavy metals we add to our tank.  From that perspective it may not be wise to trade with someone with a long established tank... or it could all be bunk .  The other issue for me anyways, is that the sand recieved from the trade may not be the "type" of sand I want in my tank.

I've just gotta say something here.

Did anyone think that the purchased LR is just as likely, or even more likely, to have unwanted critters!

And what is it you are afraid of getting? One bad organism out of hundreds of good ones?

Come on now, Really... 

Save a reef - grow your own!

Mark Mark Mark,

Even you have to admit that for some people (Lopez, Fletcher, Williams,...) the worst possible thing they could do is to add some sand from someone elses tank.  That would be a huge mistake. It is that change that causes people to say "what did I do to my beautiful tank", or "where did these planaria come from" or "I never had aiptasia until now" or whatever else.

IF YOUR TANKS LOOKS GOOD, LEAVE IT ALONE!!!!!!

Adam

Adam,

I took 3 cups of my sand and took two cups out of the bucket.  I have done this four different times with club members.  I even have sand from Hawaii.  Right now, I am finding nothing wrong with trading sand.  There could be a day when I get something bad, that will be sad.  Most contentious reef keepers know when they have something bad (planaria,aiptasia, and other things).

John

Ooohh,My turn, My turn! IMO trading sand is not a good idea. I have heard numerous times that when you buy a new fish or coral, that you should NEVER add thier water to yours for fear of adding bad things. The sand should be no different. But as I have learned about this hobby, almost everything is based on opinion. Just because I wouldn't chance adding bad things to my tank, didn't stop me from bringing sand/crushed coral for everyone else to use for there tanks. If you feel like sand swapping, good luck to you, hope it works out. But it definately isn't worth the risks for me.