Clean or replace Sand?

katguevara

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I currently have my fish in QT and treating for ich, and I'm thinking about taking this opportunity to completely taking apart my DT. I bought my tank already established and moved it about 3 blocks away to my place. After setting it all back up that night it ended up going through a mini cycle and since then there has been diatoms and alage all the time. I totally should've changed the sand, but didn't. Huge mistake! I often do water change since there hasn't been any sort of filtration system on. I was stupid enough to listen to the guy who sold it to me, that live rock filtration is good enough. Wrong! Total newbie mistake! My rock and sand bed are cover in gunk, hence why I'm thinking about just taking it apart and doing a huge clean. So anyways, should I just replace the sand or am I able to clean it off and salvage it? If so, do I just keep rinsing it, or is there a better way to clean it off. It's super fine sand if you were wondering. I also have a few inverts and coral in there now, if this will be a few day process, can I just keep them in a 5 gallon bucket with a powerhead and heater? Oh! And one more thing, should I keep some of the DT water and put it back in once I have everything ready to go back in or just completely change the water out? Thanks for reading!
 

Willy315

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I've rinsed and reused sand many times without issue. The key is rinsing it very well.
 
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katguevara

katguevara

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I've rinsed and reused sand many times without issue. The key is rinsing it very well.
Okay this makes me feel better. I'm upgrading in a few months and didn't really want to replace if I can get away with reusing for a little while longer.
 

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