Upgrading 4 month old tank. Keep Sand?

RevRich

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I have searched the forum and haven't found any one doing this with a tank as young as mine.
I'm moving. I currently have a 4 month old 20H and plan to transfer everything including rocks, coral, fish and even some equipment to the new 32 gallon custom Neptunian I purchased. The sand is only 4 months old. Do you think it need to be replaced with new and if so is this going to make my tank. Go through a cycle and hurt my livestock? I won't have both tanks running at the same time either. It's going to be, pack the old tank and move everything over to the new tank that is currently at the new house. I was planning to keep the water and add to it with new so not too much of a change.
 

Acros

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Keep the sand, but rinse it before adding to new tank.

 

karamreef117

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I would ask my self these question as I am doing the transfer. Does it smell bad? and is the sand creating such a huge mess?
I do not see a problem with sand 4 months old being rescued. That is totally fine. I do see a problem with sand releasing a lot of nitrates and toxins to you and to the fish tank. there is a lot of information here about going from sand to bare bottom and I know that you are not doing this but the information that is given out on those threads can help you understand what you might go through when removing sand and transferring it over to the new tank.
 

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal

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I have searched the forum and haven't found any one doing this with a tank as young as mine.
I'm moving. I currently have a 4 month old 20H and plan to transfer everything including rocks, coral, fish and even some equipment to the new 32 gallon custom Neptunian I purchased. The sand is only 4 months old. Do you think it need to be replaced with new and if so is this going to make my tank. Go through a cycle and hurt my livestock? I won't have both tanks running at the same time either. It's going to be, pack the old tank and move everything over to the new tank that is currently at the new house. I was planning to keep the water and add to it with new so not too much of a change.
How soon are you moving? If it were me, I'd stir up a section of the sand bed before every water change between now and the move. If doing this doesn't create a worrysome amount of detritus in the water column, you'll probably be fine moving everything in one day like you plan to. If the sandbed is really dirty, then it may be a problem.
If this is the case, I'd recommend starting to REMOVE some sand with each water change (doing these things with a WC allows you to replace some of the polluted water). Then, rinse the sand until it's totally clean and keep it until you can add it to the new tank. If you set up the new tank with the rinsed sand and let it run for a day or two, then add your existing live rock, you should be fine.
In short, reusing dirty sand might cause a new cycle.
As for the water, I wouldn't use any more of the old tank water than necessary for moving the fish and rocks, and would probably not reuse any that seems really dirty once you get to the new place. It won't be hard to mix 30 gallons of new saltwater and get your new tank off on the right foot :)
(I'm the Erin you met last weekend, so feel free to reach out if you have any other questions)
 

JMacedo

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I have never kept the sand, after a few years it stinks and it is not pretty anymore but I keep the water to seed new sand and rocks if the water is from a matured and established tank.
 

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal

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I have never kept the sand, after a few years it stinks and it is not pretty anymore but I keep the water to seed new sand and rocks if the water is from a matured and established tank.
Water has almost NO beneficial bacteria. The only thing you are moving to the new tank is potential pollutants and/or parasites.
 

karamreef117

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Water has almost NO beneficial bacteria. The only thing you are moving to the new tank is potential pollutants and/or parasites.
I would not 100% say that. Just because this could swing both ways. water can do a lot of things and on of which can hold beneficial bacteria for a certain amount of time. A topic I just read went over this pretty well. at the end of the day, if you want to have that extra water and it doesn't have such a parasite, sure go for it, but I don't think that's what he's asking for in this thread.
 

blaxsun

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Water has almost NO beneficial bacteria. The only thing you are moving to the new tank is potential pollutants and/or parasites.
^ This. Ditch the old water and start with a clean slate. Rock is a definite must, sand is optional (if thoroughly cleaned prior) - but water should be discarded for a variety of reasons. If you're concerned about the bio filter, add something like Bio-Spira to the new tank.
 
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RevRich

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How soon are you moving? If it were me, I'd stir up a section of the sand bed before every water change between now and the move. If doing this doesn't create a worrysome amount of detritus in the water column, you'll probably be fine moving everything in one day like you plan to. If the sandbed is really dirty, then it may be a problem.
If this is the case, I'd recommend starting to REMOVE some sand with each water change (doing these things with a WC allows you to replace some of the polluted water). Then, rinse the sand until it's totally clean and keep it until you can add it to the new tank. If you set up the new tank with the rinsed sand and let it run for a day or two, then add your existing live rock, you should be fine.
In short, reusing dirty sand might cause a new cycle.
As for the water, I wouldn't use any more of the old tank water than necessary for moving the fish and rocks, and would probably not reuse any that seems really dirty once you get to the new place. It won't be hard to mix 30 gallons of new saltwater and get your new tank off on the right foot :)
(I'm the Erin you met last weekend, so feel free to reach out if you have any other questions)
I have probably 6 weeks til the move so that would theoretically give me plenty of time to stir it all up. Maybe more than once. I don't mind buying new live sand or dry sand, I just want to make sure everyone makes it through without me making some stupid mistake that causes a mini cycle I could have avoided.
 
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RevRich

RevRich

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I would ask my self these question as I am doing the transfer. Does it smell bad? and is the sand creating such a huge mess?
I do not see a problem with sand 4 months old being rescued. That is totally fine. I do see a problem with sand releasing a lot of nitrates and toxins to you and to the fish tank. there is a lot of information here about going from sand to bare bottom and I know that you are not doing this but the information that is given out on those threads can help you understand what you might go through when removing sand and transferring it over to the new tank.
Thank you, I will search it and read up on it.
 
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