Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

[Dburr1014]

My temp tank is at 78.4 and the new is at 77.2. Not moving water.

I'm just double checking before I pull the trigger!

Gotcha, no worries about that temp.

 

[brandon429]

Look here this will put us out of business if caribsea does this

 

[BR260354]

Gotcha, no worries about that temp.

Transfer completed with no issues! Sand nice and clean. Fiji pink didn't take long to rinse.

 

[brandon429]

Need em pics

 

[BR260354]

The final...

 

[brandon429]

a tank will always look cloudy after a move??

BR260354's reef didn't look like that above:

we got that laser clear post setup pic that shines like gold/appreciate the input kind Sir.

that snippet is from this article:
https://reefbuilders.com/2023/07/27/how-to-move-a-reef-tank-and-cabinet/
we have been testing the polar opposite technique this whole time. nine years running






__________________________________________________________________________________________________

the reason we can't skip rinsing here is because we want to test a pure method that goes against the grain of common actions, so we need everyone tap water rinsing to fact check the patterning that arises from that focused study.

the risk of loss in reef tank transfers never happens due to lack of bacteria

it happens due to relocation of waste material between the old and new setups.

all we did here was rip clean out that waste.


Chat gpt is about to get link schooled
It's being trained on the wrong technique.

Grand Summary:

nobody in reefing is going to tell you about sand rinsing from an instructional point of view because it’s taboo and book authors don’t use it at home


if you know about it, you're a redditor or a forum friend where peers mentioned it by word of mouth

to instructors (who write books and articles on best reef practices) rinsing is simply omitted as a step. the implication is that rinsing isn't needed. that was my takeaway from the article above from reefbuilders.

Page one post one has several links at the start showing the occasional risk from unrinsed sand (full crashes) but I didn’t see any warnings about not rinsing, from the tank transfer article above.


Context
The article is about transferring the author’s tank, it’s not how our readers would transfer theirs.

The only safe method that works for public reef tanks that present with very ranging status of the sandbed is to rip clean the sand that goes into the final setup. Using that method, crashes stop, we traced crashes to the detritus that forms and gets pocketed vs removed from the system.

 

[Futuretotm]

getting a new tank, should I:
A) clean old sand like mentioned in this thread
OR
b) buy new sand?

 

[RBarth]

Buy new sand. Use old rock.

 

[brandon429]

I just rip cleaned my vase and used the old sand agreed

We rinse all sand here, new, old, large grain. Small grain, all of it

The rinsing work is the same between new and old, but the risk is different. Not rinsing new sand, as the bag says, can cause what pic #1 from post #1 shows- we avoid that here by rinsing all sand, all the time.

Anyone buying KP aquatics oceanic live sand has a scope of use planned outside this thread. If you aren’t using actual oceanic sand, we rinse it because no benefit lies in not rinsing, we earned our pure method here by doing that rinse.

Even on new bagged caribsea live sand, because it is so cloudy if we didn’t rinse.

 

[brandon429]

Rn I’m logging into chatgpt to see if it’s evolved any, last ninety days.

Today's search string test shows learning, a little.


It's list of steps expanded a little. Rinsing was mentioned now, but as part of a choice set :)



Meaning the alternative option, moving unrinsed sand, safety can be ensured? no it cannot. But a bot cannot know that part yet...true accountability for advised practice only comes from live time work threads where transfers are kept up for inspection.

Articles are closed conveyances. No feedback sting aversion in place, no way to evolve practices based on feedback







Overall the chat gpt system is learning such that it can eventually be consulted for basic safe tank transfer advice

But for custom jobs / safe planning we'll still need to see the tank pic or video to catch small details that'll keep us employed a while longer.




I told it to read our thread, via link. It said it did and to quiz it.

and I call this a pass, wow.




Seeing how long this train holds I'll check it again spring break

 

[Unitylover]

This is really helping me, but I do NOT have RO water to final clean the sand with. Do I just use declorinated tap that sat for 10 minutes?

 

[brandon429]

Yes perfect

Please take pics for us

 

[brandon429]

Did you verify your rinse with a test handful in a glass cup/ that way the tank refill is guaranteed laser clean

 

[Unitylover]

Oh no I don't have the sand yet, I'm just planning it out early so once I get the sand I can get straight to it.
Also, apparently it's fine to use tap?
https://aquariumscience.org/index.p...cleaning a,effect on the beneficial bacteria.

 

[brandon429]

that link matches our work: excellent post

A recommended read. I've liked his take on filtration biology after reading

Confirmed using 350 other people's reef tanks: rinsing all external filter material (other than live rock, but we've also got two instances here on site where they rinsed the rocks too: still did not recycle) does not harm the system, because live rock is always enough in every case.

In lots of instances here we removed sand, removed all filter material, left only bare bottom live rock + all original fish, and the system simply has no shock (anyone with a seneye running, please verify and report back) even though 2/3 of the contact surface area is removed

So to add to his post/ article: not only does rinsing not harm the sandbed bacteria all that much, even if we really do harm them/ they still don't matter.

Being 10000% verified cloud free is the sole goal to preserve all

Thank you for the updates

 

[Unitylover]

that link matches our work: excellent post

A recommended read. I've liked his take on filtration biology after reading

Confirmed using 350 other people's reef tanks: rinsing all external filter material (other than live rock, but we've also got two instances here on site where they rinsed the rocks too: still did not recycle) does not harm the system, because live rock is always enough in every case.

In lots of instances here we removed sand, removed all filter material, left only bare bottom live rock + all original fish, and the system simply has no shock (anyone with a seneye running, please verify and report back) even though 2/3 of the contact surface area is removed

So to add to his post/ article: not only does rinsing not harm the sandbed bacteria all that much, even if we really do harm them/ they still don't matter.

Being 10000% verified cloud free is the sole goal to preserve all

Thank you for the updates

KK.
How much rock do i need? When I do my deep clean im gonna decrease the rock from 5 big pieces to possibly just 2-3. Ill clean the rocks in Dechlorinated fresh water? Is that fine? Or should I use saltwater?

 

[Unitylover]

Should I get wet or dry sand? Do I have to rinse the wet sand too?

 

[Unitylover]

Did you verify your rinse with a test handful in a glass cup/ that way the tank refill is guaranteed laser clean

I just realized what you meant by cup test: If I buy my sand wet, I'll put it in a cup and test for the dust you say. If I get it dry, I'll rinse it alright...
Also, does freshwater kill beneficial bacteria in sand and on rock or no?

 

[ScottJ]

KK.
How much rock do i need? When I do my deep clean im gonna decrease the rock from 5 big pieces to possibly just 2-3. Ill clean the rocks in Dechlorinated fresh water? Is that fine? Or should I use saltwater?

I would not rinse any live rock with fresh water. I would use saltwater made with RODI.

 

[Unitylover]

I would not rinse any live rock with fresh water. I would use saltwater made with RODI.

Don't have radio, so would a good live rock rinse be declorinated tap with salt added?