Sand Change - Any Input Appreciated

[Scubado63]

I have a 90 gallon tank that has been up about 2 years, I have to move it to a new location in my house, though it might be a goo chance to change out my sand, right now it is very fine and I can have much flow or it causes it to move all around, want to go to a bigger size, what I am not sure of is after the move, can I just add new sand in, or will it cause a cycle that could kill fish or corals ... not sure if it is a good idea at all or what the best way to insure safe transfer , Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[twilliard]

I wouldn't change all of the sand as that is where a majority of the bacteria will be.

 

[Va_Reef]

How deep is the current sand bed? How often did you agitate it?

If you are moving and keep the sand in the tank, you would have to remove sections at a time (1/8th every few weeks or so) so as not to wipe out a good portion of your beneficial bacteria.

If you're taking the sand out to move it, I would keep some but add mostly new sand, odds are you're going to stir up a whole lot of nastiness from disturbing it and won't want to put that back into the tank.

 

[Adamc13o3]

Once the rock and livestock is removed you can stir up the sand a lot and siphon out the detritus. At that point once you see how good of a job you did cleaning it you can decide on reusing it or not. I know you don't like the particle size but you can but it on the bottom and put the heavier sand on top of it. If you have the option of setting up a remote deep sand bed, then put new sand in the display tank and use the old sand for the RDSB. You can decide if you want to keep the RDSB later on or if you want to remove it. If you remove it do it after a while to ensure the new sand is seeded with bacteria and remove a little at a time every week or every other week. Either way it will be way easier since it will be setup remotely.

 

[Scubado63]

it is only about 1 1/2 to 2 inches deep, not much at all ... I will buy new live sand, never thought of keeping some of the older sand and adding to bottom under new, it just get dirty and a lot of detritus because of lack of flow ..... I will probably have to take it all out to move, but going to save the water and reuse most, thought that might also help

 

[brandon429]

--

 

[Adamc13o3]

The water doesn't have the bacteria in it. The bacteria is on surfaces like rock and sand.

 

[Scubado63]

true on water, but I want to make sure it is close as I can to what I am tearing down, want to move and set back up in shortest amt of time to keep fish stress at a minimum ..... like everything as it is now, but figured good time to change sand if it wont casue any issues with fish and corals

 

[brandon429]

it is a great idea, this can keep your tank functioning like new. my reef has literally no biological lifespan due to the practice, and occasional blast cleaning of live rock to keep the pores open...usually during a good takedown cleaning. I do them once or twice a year

sandbed intercept keeps me algae free and plays a massive role in that.

 

[Scubado63]

I am hoping to only have to do this once , stresses me out as much as fish I think, all the fish I have were all original when I set the tank up, and have only lost 2 , also I want to get a little larger grain, but don't want it to big ...any suggestions on best types to use

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I am hoping to only have to do this once , stresses me out as much as fish I think, all the fish I have were all original when I set the tank up, and have only lost 2 ,

go slow youll be fine. It took me a day to do my 30g transfer. that was with rinsing the sand an adding.

 

[Elegance Coral]

Part of what I do for a living is move tanks. IMHO, the safest, and easiest, way to move a tank is to siphon as much CLEAN aquarium water into containers as possible. Place rocks/coral into containers with the clean aquarium water. Place fish in containers with the same water, but without rocks or coral. Keep fish separate from rock/coral. Trash remaining water and sand from tank. Clean tank. Move tank. Fill tank +/- half way with brand new water. Replace rock/coral keeping coral under water as much as possible. Trash water from coral/rock containers. Replace fish. If you are just way to uncomfortable about a 100% water change, you can top off with water the fish traveled in. I would run the tank BB for at least a few weeks. With the old sand and all the organics associated with it, removed, the load on the system will be reduced. Bacteria will begin to die off. You'll see these dead bacteria as detritus on the bottom glass, which is easy to remove during water changes, further reducing the load on the system. With a little time, the bacteria population will level off with the new, cleaner, environment. The amount of detritus being produced will be reduced. At this point sand can be added. I try to use CaribSea "Special Grade Reef Sand". It's not to small, and it's not to big. Easy to keep clean with a gravel vac.
HTH
Peace
EC

 

[Scubado63]

Thanks for the info, I havnt used sand out of the bag, does it have to be rinsed before adding..... also what is a good size that wont blow all over the pace when touched, but still good for sand dwellers, I have a pistol shrimp and watchman gobie, also a yellow Corus wrasse that buries itself at night

 

[Scubado63]

?