moving sand to new tank..good or bad?

pzlicious · 02/06/2013, 10:03 PM

Hi Guys,
I was thinking about moving everything from my 90 into a new tank. The tank has been up and running for about 2 years now. All is well with water, fish, and corals. Would it be bad to transfer the sand from my old tank into the new one? I thought I read that it might stir up the gas/waste build up and possibly crash the tank? Any truth to this? Thanks

YamahaF934 · 02/06/2013, 10:06 PM

I have done it when I moved tanks to a new house. I just rinsed the sand till it was brand new again. I used some of the old water from the tank to rinse it and then used RO/DI water until it ran clear.

Mikelush78 · 02/07/2013, 07:37 AM

Did the same thing, Moved my 90 to a 180 and it took a bit of effort just kept rinsing it until the water was nice and clear then drained out all the water I could (every drop I could) and then added it to the new tank... seems to have worked just fine so far...

pzlicious · 02/07/2013, 09:34 AM

Good to see replies with experience, and thank you for those. So do I have to rinse it? Or is it just a safer way to go? Was thinking of scooping it out of one and into the other tank? Good bad?

Mike Ordner · 02/07/2013, 09:40 AM

I would use new sand and seed with some old sand or rinse old sand really good. Lots of nasties can build up over two year period. No reason to start off with potential problem.

Clownin Aroun · 02/07/2013, 09:44 AM

I would do both as well.

I would use some of the old sand but rinse it very well and then buy one new back of alive sand to seed it. If your using your live rock from your old tank plus some dry rock for the extra room you should be good to go.......just as stated above by others though make sure you rinse it well!

Ill be doing this same thing when moving from my 120 to 234 gallon tank!

coralsnaked · 02/07/2013, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clownin Aroun

I would do both as well.

I would use some of the old sand but rinse it very well and then buy one new back of alive sand to seed it. If your using your live rock from your old tank plus some dry rock for the extra room you should be good to go.......just as stated above by others though make sure you rinse it well!

Ill be doing this same thing when moving from my 120 to 234 gallon tank!

When ever you put old sand into a new tank or new "alive" sand there will be some sort of cycle involved. The safest bet is to buy a high quality reef sand and rinse well until water runs clear aand drain well. This way there is nothing to cause your tank to recycle. Yes seed it with a cup or two of ald sand that's all that is needed. But using "live" sand in a bag from the LFS wiill cause tank to recycle in most cases. And using your old sand even rinsed can leave dead organisms in the sand which will decompoose and cause ammonia spikes to some degree. Sand is cheap enough and why take any chances with your established live stock. Additionally everything moves much faster for you when you can have the substrate ready to go prior to turning off the first pump and starting to siphon out the clear water.

Just saying do everything to keep that Skerry Merry

usmc121581 · 02/07/2013, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pzlicious

Good to see replies with experience, and thank you for those. So do I have to rinse it? Or is it just a safer way to go? Was thinking of scooping it out of one and into the other tank? Good bad?

I have done just this and never had any side effects. I have moved my tank 10 since 2006, and never rinsed out the sand. I just moved it the 10th time this past Aug 12 and did just this. Now only take this with a grain of salt, I have no clue on how you perform maintence, etc. Now when I did this it was cloudy, but I have a magnum canister filter I use just for this issue.

02/06/2013, 10:03 PM	#1
pzlicious Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Posts: 64	moving sand to new tank..good or bad? Hi Guys, I was thinking about moving everything from my 90 into a new tank. The tank has been up and running for about 2 years now. All is well with water, fish, and corals. Would it be bad to transfer the sand from my old tank into the new one? I thought I read that it might stir up the gas/waste build up and possibly crash the tank? Any truth to this? Thanks

02/06/2013, 10:06 PM	#2
YamahaF934 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Posts: 76	I have done it when I moved tanks to a new house. I just rinsed the sand till it was brand new again. I used some of the old water from the tank to rinse it and then used RO/DI water until it ran clear.

02/07/2013, 07:37 AM	#3
Mikelush78 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Rochester, NY Posts: 158	Did the same thing, Moved my 90 to a 180 and it took a bit of effort just kept rinsing it until the water was nice and clear then drained out all the water I could (every drop I could) and then added it to the new tank... seems to have worked just fine so far...

02/07/2013, 09:34 AM	#4
pzlicious Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Posts: 64	Good to see replies with experience, and thank you for those. So do I have to rinse it? Or is it just a safer way to go? Was thinking of scooping it out of one and into the other tank? Good bad?

02/07/2013, 09:40 AM	#5
Mike Ordner Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Corpus Christi, Texas Posts: 415	I would use new sand and seed with some old sand or rinse old sand really good. Lots of nasties can build up over two year period. No reason to start off with potential problem.

02/07/2013, 09:44 AM	#6
Clownin Aroun YouTube name- KNGRNGS Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Monmouth County, NJ Posts: 314	I would do both as well. I would use some of the old sand but rinse it very well and then buy one new back of alive sand to seed it. If your using your live rock from your old tank plus some dry rock for the extra room you should be good to go.......just as stated above by others though make sure you rinse it well! Ill be doing this same thing when moving from my 120 to 234 gallon tank!