Should I Replace Substrate?

[mavillan]

Hello!

I just moved across the country, and brought my fish tanks over in two phases. Everything survived!!! My 2 clown fish, GSP, Golden Hammer, and small COC have been living in my QT for about 3-4 weeks. Now that I am about to bring up my DT and set everything back up for that, I am not sure if I should keep on using my substrate from the last tank, or replace it. I left it in the DT during the move with a tiny amount of water at the bottom, but it has probably been dry/in a hot car for ~2 weeks before I got it back in a house. I have had mixed suggestions for what I should do. I am leaning on the side of just reuse what is in there and call it a day.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[Kellie in CA]

I would definitely replace it.

 

[Jekyl]

I would replace. No benefit to keeping.

 

[Ryde]

I would replace. No benefit to keeping.

Inlighten me, wouldn't their old sand contain beneficial bacteria? I guess in theory you could replace with more live sand anyway.

 

[Katrina71]

+1 on replacing

 

[mavillan]

Inlighten me, wouldn't their old sand contain beneficial bacteria? I guess in theory you could replace with more live sand anyway.

My thought, and I may be wrong, is that it is most likely dead by now. I was originally going to empty the sand into my live rock bucket that had a circulation pump, but it ended up not working out.

I am gonna go with the suggestions and get some new substrate. Thank you all!!!

 

[Jekyl]

Inlighten me, wouldn't their old sand contain beneficial bacteria? I guess in theory you could replace with more live sand anyway.

Sand doesn't contain near the bacteria that the rocks do. It's not that big of a deal.

 

[Jedi1199]

Hello!

I just moved across the country, and brought my fish tanks over in two phases. Everything survived!!! My 2 clown fish, GSP, Golden Hammer, and small COC have been living in my QT for about 3-4 weeks. Now that I am about to bring up my DT and set everything back up for that, I am not sure if I should keep on using my substrate from the last tank, or replace it. I left it in the DT during the move with a tiny amount of water at the bottom, but it has probably been dry/in a hot car for ~2 weeks before I got it back in a house. I have had mixed suggestions for what I should do. I am leaning on the side of just reuse what is in there and call it a day.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

At this point, sitting stagnant for so long, I would not reuse the sand as-is. You don't need to toss it, but I would wash it out before reusing it.

I would replace. No benefit to keeping.

Inlighten me, wouldn't their old sand contain beneficial bacteria? I guess in theory you could replace with more live sand anyway.

Sand doesn't contain near the bacteria that the rocks do. It's not that big of a deal.

I will address these 3 posts together.

First, yes, the sand does not contain the cycling bacteria that the rocks do.

This does NOT mean however that the sand does not contain microfauna that is absolutely beneficial to a reef system.

There are all kinds of living organisms in the sand that you want in your system. Buying new does NOT replace them.

When I did my upgrade build 2 weeks ago, I reused all of my sand as-is. I saw right from day one, dozens of tiny Asterina Stars that would have been lost if I had washed or replaced the sand.

I don't know why everyone seems to believe that just because sand does not hold as much of the cycling bacteria as the rocks that sand is irrelevant.

Unfortunately, at this point, after several weeks in a hot car, most likely everything is dead. I am sure your nose will tell you that to reuse the sand as-is would be a bad idea.