Clean sand?

[Dubin]

I'm taking down a 90g and moving everything to a 120g. How do you "clean" the sand, the sand has been there for a couple years and I don't want to bring any of the bad stuff to the new tank.

 

[HighlandReefer]

I would rinse it well with fresh water to clean as much organic material in it, soak it in bleach solution overnight a couple of times. Then add to remove the chlorine. Then soak it in a vinegar solution to remove heavy metals. Then rinse again in fresh water to remove the vinegar.

This will kill unwanted pests in the sand and remove any heavy metals & phosphate on the sand surfaces.

 

[Dubin]

How do you rinse it though? Put the sand through some kind of strainer?

 

[frank40]

i rinsed it in small batches with a fish net with clean salt water, i did not want to loose the bacteria. when you transfer to the new set up, the sand bed will need time to re-establish itself but not as long as if you rinsed it with fresh water

 

[MichaelLitoris]

I did this once when I went from a 55 to my current 100 and it was such a mess; like frank40 said, rinse the sand with saltwater so all your copepods and worms survive; you can save some from a regular water change.

Bear in mind the sand bed is going to crash no matter what and the cycle will start over in your new tank, I had cyano all over the sand for weeks, then brown algae... ugh.

 

[RyanSweatt2004]

To be honost, I've moved/ upgraded tanks about 5 times now and every time I have never rinsed/cleaned my sand bed. I've always tryed to keep the layers separate and just transfered everything over to the new tank. The water gets real clowdy for a few days and all the detritis will settle on the top of the sand but this can be solved my using a filter sock in a sump or by using a hang on filter to physicaly remove the built up waist. Its worked everytime for me and almost over night the water will be clear. Plus I would not trust bleaching my sand. Sand is very porse and I would not want to worry that my sand could soak up the bleach and get into the new system.

 

[RyanSweatt2004]

I never had any issues with my sand bed crashing after doing this, cyano for me has never been a problem.

 

[geno7]

I wouldn't reuse the old sand, buy new. When you turn the sand bed over your going to release tons of nutrients. It's hard to get them out by rinsing. Good luck on what ever you do.

I have reused sand before and caused a cyno bloom that lasted a couple of months. I wouldn't do it.

Good luck on what ever you do.

 

[sedor]

If your sand isn't that old I wouldn't replace it however. I don't think you have to get all crazy about it. Just rinse it out really good in small batches in a bucket like you did when you first bought it. Remember to save a couple cup fulls without cleaning so you can reseed the new clean sand.

 

[transd]

2 moves, 3 tank upgrades, same sand bed used and no issues. Just make sure that the sand doesn't sit idle for too long.

 

[KarlBob]

When I purchased a 90g tank with an established sand bed, I did everything wrong. I took the sand outside in buckets and ran a garden hose in the buckets until the water ran mostly clear. Between the flushing action of the hose and the chlorine in the water, I'm sure I thoroughly destroyed the living qualities of the sand bed. On the other hand, I've always had algae problems in that tank, so I must not have flushed out all of the nutrients.

After the rinse, I took the sand home, put it all back in the tank, and added fresh saltwater. The tank was cloudy for a few days, then it cleared up. Eventually the sand bed was re-seeded by critters from my live rock and additions of sand from my other tank.

The point is that even if you do everything wrong, your sand bed will eventually recover. It'll probably recover faster, though, if you skip the garden hose.

 

[nes999]

i did this before but it was because i was moving and wouldnt be able to afford a tank for a little bit. i took all my sand and put it into pillow cases and ran the hose through it then i took some old baking sheets spread it out and threw it on the grill to dry. i was in a hurry

 

[reefer31]

I transfered my sand bed from my 29 to my new 120 and I will most likely never do it again. I would just keep a few cups of the old and get new sand.

 

[ruiny]

i always use new sand.
It will reseed from the live rock.

 

[KarlBob]

I've seen some people claim that sand has a limited window of chemical activity. Something to do with buffering pH and contributing calcium. Obviously, I didn't catch all of the details. Anyway, these people say that you should add new sand, or replace part of your old sand bed with new sand, every year or two. People who believe this would probably advise you to keep a cup of the old sand to re-seed, but ditch the rest.

Others, of course, say that they've used the exact same sand for x years, and everything is fine in their tank, so you don't need to replenish or replace your sand bed. These people seem more likely to tell you to continue using the old sand.

As with everything in this hobby, eventually it seems to come down to which expert you're willing to believe, based on your own knowledge and experience.