RE: Moving Tank - Reusing Sand Question

[denverjon]

I'm buying my buddies 210g setup tomorrow and transportating it over to my house. It's a healthy system and has been up and running for over a year.

My question is regarding the sand. I was planning on using both his sand and mine from my 120g, but I'm wondering if I should do anything to it before placing it the new tank? I was thinking of rinsing it out in saltwater first do get rid of some of the detritus without killing all the bacteria. I've heard of harmful things being released when you mess with a sandbed, so I'm just trying to figure out the best way to use it without doing damage. Thanks

 

[soccerbag]

You should be fine mixing to the two. I'm assuming that your buddy's sandbed will be pretty compact once the water is drained out. So as you add water to it, it should pretty much stay put. You could add some of your sand too. I moved my entire sandbed over from my 150 to my 250g with no issues. Since his sand should be pretty well seeded, you could rinse your current sand if you wanted to in order to clean it out a bit - then put in on top of the existing. That is assuming, of course, that you will move the tank with the sand still in the tank. : )

Can't wait to see the new tank! Please post some pics for us!

 

[denverjon]

Thanks Craig. I'm not sure whether I'm going to keep the sand in his tank when I move it or not. It depends on how heavy it is. If not, I may just give both this sand and mine a quick rinse with saltwater before mixing them together.