Moving sand from one tank to another

[smcnally]

Who's done this? I know it is bad to disturb a deep bed, but I really would like to use my sand since it is southdown and very hard to find now. My new tank will only have about a 1.5" deep sand bed, so I was thinking that I could get away with just scooping the first 3/4 of an inch off of my existing bed and putting it in the new tank. Does anyone have any insight to this? Am I crazy?

 

[smithcreek]

Does anyone have any insight to this? Am I crazy?

These are two separate questions, right?

 

[PenMan]

We moved sand from 4 year old tank 8 weeks ago. We did have a good clean up crew and a diamond gobie that did a lot of sand sifting in the old setup. We rinsed the sand well and the tank ran for three weeks with the skimmer before adding anything. So far it is going well.

I have two buckets left from the move if anybody needs some.

 

[smcnally]

These are two separate questions, right?

Yes...2 questions

We moved sand from 4 year old tank 8 weeks ago. We did have a good clean up crew and a diamond gobie that did a lot of sand sifting in the old setup. We rinsed the sand well and the tank ran for three weeks with the skimmer before adding anything. So far it is going well.

I have two buckets left from the move if anybody needs some.

That's my problem...I don't have 3 weeks. I was hoping that if I scooped the top 3/4" that the "nasties" wouldn't come with it.

 

[ReeferMedic]

That's my problem...I don't have 3 weeks. I was hoping that if I scooped the top 3/4" that the "nasties" wouldn't come with it.

I would think if you rinse it good enough, it will be pretty much brand new sand again. If you are adding live rock that is already cycled from your existing setup , I think you'll be fine. I'd fill it up with water from your existing setup also.

 

[smcnally]

Thanks Don, that is what I'm doing. This is my plan...

1: stuff sump with as much rock as I can
2: pull sand from tank and rinse in SW
3: put in tank and slowly fill with existing tank water (right now there is about 20 gal of SW from the existing tank already in the new sump mixed with 20 gal of newly mixed SW)

 

[ReeferMedic]

That's pretty much what I would do Steve. I would probably just take a hose to the sand though. You probably don't have enough salt water to rinse it good enough. That avatar is frikkin a riot by the way.

 

[Salty Dog]

When we moved from the 55 to the 90, we used all new sand in the tank, being concerned about releasing all the bad stuff.

However, we did put the old sand in the sump - which we ended up removing not that long afterward because we felt it was contributing to our nitrate problem. Not sure if it was contributing or not - but we felt there was no reason to have in there. Still have the old sand in the refugium, but that should balance itself...

Not sure if this helps....

Eric

 

[MisFit]

Why would you rinse the sand from the top layer?? Thats where a lot of your microfauna will be. Why would you want to wash them out? Sure theres bound to be some in your rock, but it will take forever to really repopulate the sand again. I say, take the top layer, 1 inch or so and transfer that to the top layer of the new tank. If you want to keep the rest, hose that down really well. Sure you will probably get a mini cycle, but you need to cycle the tank anyway. If you are really worried, put the top layer in a bucket, add a little water, stir a little and just decant the black nasty stuff a few times while leaving as much beneficial life behind.

 

[nickyblase]

Hi Steve,

I have done this, and did it all in one night. When I upgraded one of my tanks, I didn't think there would be enough sand, so I stole from my other tank (as well as adding some new). I added it really slowly (didn't rinse, but I had just done a water change on the tank I took the sand from and did vacuum the sand at that time, so it was in relatively decent shape).

I let the sand settle for a while, and then when the small amount of gunk settled on the top, I did a small water change to vacuum that out. Tested the params, all ok so I added the rock. Waited a little while, tested again, and all was fine, so I added the corals. Messed around with plumbing, etc for about an hour, and then tested again, and still no problems, so in the livestock went.

In the end, I did have a little nitrate spike (from 0 to 5ish), but that was pretty easy to get rid of.

HTH

Laurie

 

[smcnally]

Thanks for the advice everyone!

 

[Matt L.]

I've moved sand a few times now, and never had a problem. As long as you take the top (aerobic) layer, and keep that layer aerobic in transit, I don't believe you'll have an issue. Rinsing it with saltwater will be fine. The difficult part is keeping all the sand aerobic in transit, and to do this, I simply spread a thin layer, no deeper than what I took from the tank, acorss several buckets. I think people attribute moving failures to sand beds, but I don't always believe that's the cause.

Matt

 

[JayM]

I bought a 75G tank's contents, LR, sand, and CUC. I moved the sand and rock, in water from Dudley to Marlboro in 6 rubbermaid totes. When I got home, I put the LS in the bottom, added some rinsed sand to the top, then aquascaped the LR. I used about 20 gallons of the former tanks water, and the rest was new mixed SW. I did see a nitrate spike (went to about ~20, then dropped), but I never had anything die off, and fish were in it on the 4th day after setup.

It was my first tank in 20 years, total newbie, no idea if I'd do it again that way, but everything went fine.....

 

[ReeferMedic]

It's not worth trying to save it imo. The sand will repopulate in very short time with the live rock from your other system. I saw critters within a few days the last time I set up a new tank with clean sand and live rock from another system. Just not worth worrying about "what if" imho. What ever you decide Steve, good luck with the move.

 

[MFreef]

steve Ive swapped tanks (fuge)and reused the sand..basicly i drained, scooped the sand into the new tank, covered the sand with syran wrap and filled. much to my suprise there was no significant spikes..IMO if you keep the sand from getting stirred in the water its not a problem..just what ive done.

 

[newfish]

Hi Steve,

I have done this, and did it all in one night. When I upgraded one of my tanks, I didn't think there would be enough sand, so I stole from my other tank (as well as adding some new). I added it really slowly (didn't rinse, but I had just done a water change on the tank I took the sand from and did vacuum the sand at that time, so it was in relatively decent shape).

I let the sand settle for a while, and then when the small amount of gunk settled on the top, I did a small water change to vacuum that out. Tested the params, all ok so I added the rock. Waited a little while, tested again, and all was fine, so I added the corals. Messed around with plumbing, etc for about an hour, and then tested again, and still no problems, so in the livestock went.

In the end, I did have a little nitrate spike (from 0 to 5ish), but that was pretty easy to get rid of.

HTH

Laurie

i did the same thing all was ok almost right away from 30gl to 54 corner