Should I clean my sand?

JCOLE

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Hello everyone, I am about to move my 55 gallon over to my new 150 next weekend. My question is should I go ahead and rinse my existing sand to clean out any detritus and waste before adding to the 150?
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Adamantium

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Following. I'll be doing the same in about a year.

I've actually heard people say you can stick it in a brute trashcan, and just run a hose until it's clear, but my concern is all the beneficial bacteria you'd be killing with the chlorinated water.

Isn't the sand bed, next to live rock, the biggest bio filter in the tank?
 

BellaCoop

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I would read what @Neo Jeo posted. I did not rinse my sand bed when i did a transition. It was not terrible because i was able to put my fish and corals in a smaller tank for a bit. But it took a Long time to settle.... I did not put anything in for a little over a week till all levels evened out. I was thinking the same thing that the beneficial bacteria would be worth keeping.

On the bright side of it though. After that week it was flowing perfect and all the levels stayed in the good range.
 

BellaCoop

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Hello everyone, I am about to move my 55 gallon over to my new 150 next weekend. My question is should I go ahead and rinse my existing sand to clean out any detritus and waste before adding to the 150?
c66cff46f5fd377e221379a7c6b6ac5a.jpg
How thick is your sand bed dang haha is it just the angle or is it that deep?
 

Spanky05

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I came here to post this same link. Well done @Neo Jeo ;)

I moved my 29 gallon a few years back and didn't rinse the sand and I regret not taking that opportunity. Inevitably you will stir it up some and release some funk into your water stream that could have some undesired effects. I had increased algae issues for a while afterwards even though I had the tank sitting in my lap and my wife driving only 10mph the whole trip (only about 5 miles).

Just started up a tank and I blasted my new sand clean prior to putting it in and I can't see a situation where I won't do that again.

After you clean the sand (or just start with new sand which would still need to be cleaned), set it in a container with some ro/di and stir it around. Dump off that water and then do the same thing again. That's overkill for getting the tap water off of it but it may give you some peace of mind.

@brandon429 is expert in this area.
 

Neo Jeo

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I came here to post this same link. Well done @Neo Jeo ;)

I moved my 29 gallon a few years back and didn't rinse the sand and I regret not taking that opportunity. Inevitably you will stir it up some and release some funk into your water stream that could have some undesired effects. I had increased algae issues for a while afterwards even though I had the tank sitting in my lap and my wife driving only 10mph the whole trip (only about 5 miles).

Just started up a tank and I blasted my new sand clean prior to putting it in and I can't see a situation where I won't do that again.

After you clean the sand (or just start with new sand which would still need to be cleaned), set it in a container with some ro/di and stir it around. Dump off that water and then do the same thing again. That's overkill for getting the tap water off of it but it may give you some peace of mind.

@brandon429 is expert in this area.

Thanks lol
 
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JCOLE

JCOLE

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How thick is your sand bed dang haha is it just the angle or is it that deep?
Oh yes it is that deep. Lol. This is a 55 gallon with enough sand for a small ocean. I am moving everything over to a 150 and I told my wife that I probably wont add any more sand. Lol
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