Tank Transfer: Using old sandbed?

[joseserrano]

Just use all new sand

 

[Straasha]

I am will soon switch to a new 55 gallon tank. My current 55 gallon tank has only been up for two months (long story behind why I am switching). Will it be a problem reusing the sand without rinsing since it has only been up for two months?

 

[brandon429]

You should always rinse sand before moving, there’s no benefit not rinsing. It takes a risk to not rinse, only clean moves are safe. If you use all new sand, rinse it just the same. Having massive clouding never helped or benefitted any system.

theres a claim online that rinsing removes bacteria, that’s just untested bro science. Does rubbing tap water across our counters after cutting chicken sterilize the surface? Magically it’s the worlds best sterilizer for aquarium bac lol. if you consider the details in the 35 page sand rinse thread, no aquarium on this website needs sandbed bacteria, theyre expendable (we turn tanks into instant bare bottom, they’re not needed)

 

[OrionN]

A sand bed is a Live sand bed due to THE FAUNA IN THE SAND, NOT THE BACTERIAL.

 

[brandon429]

Even the fauna are expendable. Removing them changes nothing, having them there changes nothing. Evidence: bare bottom tanks doing fine

live rock is an alternate housing source for microfauna. Once we see the bacteria and the detritus and the arthropod / worm life is not required, only extra bioloading, we are freer to act and do things with reefs that prevent cycles. Sounds harsh I know, but it’s why we’re out 35 pages w no loss in the sand rinse thread.

that being said, if someone wants an untouched bed teeming with life, don’t rinse and try other approaches for moving, upgrading, blending beds etc. no harm

but up until recently, those life forms were deemed essential. Couldn’t be removed without consequence


once we knew sandbeds were only options, not required for nitrifying bac or for any reason, mini cycle losses stopped and full control of recycling became commonplace since we now just remove the sand (or wash it, change it etc) all at once, vs in increments. It’s safer to work all at once vs in increments, as the masses would advise.

people who are pre rinsing new bagged sand are rinsing for silt ejection, not detritus. Where many sandbed removers/changers go wrong (BRS) is they don’t down-adjust lighting in the tank cleaned, they keep full production lighting in place and it burns corals. Your corals are adapted to your lighting levels + feed rates + organic stores very tightly

ripping out organic stores means you must move down light intensity and up the feed input for a while, then you can flip beds for years in any reef and it won’t kill the system.

 

[FinsFan13]

Question: I am transferring my existing 40 gallon reef tank to a 65 gallon and would like to use some of my old sand bed. What is the best way to do this? My plan is to only use the sand which I am able to thoroughly vacuum days beforehand and to ditch the rest. This leaves me with ~80% new sand to ~20% old sand. How would you go about combining them safely?

Recently did a tank transfer as well, I did not use any old sand, but used the same live rock, same water, and dosed a small bottle of Dr. Tims nitrifying bacteria just to be safe. I had no losses.

 

[IzzysPop]

just to reiterate what everyone here is saying, i recently went from a 50g to a 125g tank. I used all new rinsed sand, about 20 gallons of my old water with the rest new fresh water. (I really only did that to get some zoanthids I had in the DT covered in water since I ran out of bucket space). Had a very small diatom bloom (probably from new equipment and new dead rock I added to the system) but never had any need to grab any of the old sand. I went all new, freshly rinsed sand and it is up and running great with no negative affects to the coral or fish.

Just use new sand. It's not that expensive.

 

[Stones-Reef]

Thanks for all the advice guys. Obviously sand is one of the cheaper materials for the aquarium, so if saving money is the only benefit of reusing sand then it doesnt make sense, at least in my case. After considering my options, I will be using a predominantly new sandbed, with a few scoops of old sand, as per Melev’s Reef. Thanks again!

 

[OrionN]

Benefit of having a sand bed have been debated for ever. This is the live sand bed I am talking about. It is the one that will heal HLLE, eliminate Ick. It will handles over feeding with ease And keep your fish fat. I can add a fish full of spots and the Ich just frizzles out after a few weeks. My nitrates is always near 0 even if I feed 8 times in a day. You should see how fat my fishes are. Notice all the animals in and on top of the sand in my refugium.