Help!! Moving tank to tank

[Fishboy15]

Moving my 29 gallon to another 29 gallon because my first one is scratched up. I painted the new tank and ready to set up. I'm going to buy a new 20 pound bag of live sand to put in first. Then I will transfer a few lives rocks from old tank to new tank to cycle. My problem is how do I move my old sand, along with the burrowing nassarius snails to the new tank?

Once it cycles I will then move all the rest if the rock to the new tank, then the fish.

 

[Sapelo]

Why would you move the old sand? IMO, new tank = new sand.
As for the snails, you'll have to catch them at night when they are out and about or wait until you disassemble the old tank and sort them out then.
Yay, new tank! Good luck!

 

[Fishboy15]

Wait so moving the old sand to new tank is a bad idea and I should just buy new sand and leave the old sand out of the new tank?

 

[thegrun]

You should not have a new cycle if you move all the rock and livestock over at the same time. I agree I would throw out the old sand and start with new dry sand washed well to remove the fines (dust). Reuse as much of the water as you can from the old tank to minimize any changes in water chemistry, but don't use the old water when it starts to get dirty from stirred up detritus inn the sand. I would fill up the new tank 1/3 of the way with new saltwater matching the salinity, temperature and alkalinity of your old tank's water. Then transfer the rock, then add the new sand, then top off the new tank with water from your old system. Finally catch your fish and transfer them. Be sure to sift through the sand for snails and wrasses.

 

[vikinglord13]

If you have siphoned the sand and filter it when you move it you shouldn't have any problems. When I moved my tank cross country I used my fishnet to scoop the sand out and let it "filter/drain" into a bait bucket. The dirty water I dumped down the toilet and just transferred the sand. The nassarius snails shouldn't be bothered, mine weren't.

Again, this is based on my experience. Each system is different and whether it should be kept or not could be a tough decision for the reefer. If you want to send me a PM go ahead. I have too many subscribed threads as it is...

 

[UTCReefer]

If you stir up the old sand and put it in the new tank you can expect it to nuke your new tank.

After you move everything, just dump some food in the old tank and catch the snails when they come out to feed

 

[OrQidz]

I killed a whole tank reusing a sand bed once. All I did was siphon it out and move it to another tank across the room! I rinsed it in clean SW too...anyway the tank crashed overnight. Never again...go with new sand and your same live rock. You can probably catch the nassarius if you lure them out with something to eat.

 

[zelie_dad]

I'm following this.

I'm going to be moving from a leaky 40 breeder to a 65 in a month or so. The advise I got was to use new sand as well, but seed it with a couple of cups of the old sand and pitch the rest.

The thing I haven't heard is using water from the old system. My sump is in the basement, do could I just leave water ever water drains into the sump and fill the rest of the tank with new water, or just make all new water?

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[thegrun]

The rational for using as much clean water from your old system as possible is to minimize the stress created by a change in water chemistry. Reusing the old water helps reduce this stress.

 

[zelie_dad]

The rational for using as much clean water from your old system as possible is to minimize the stress created by a change in water chemistry. Reusing the old water helps reduce this stress.

Can you define clean water?

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[mgreenough]

Clean water as in the water drained out of the existing tank before you start disturbing your rocks and sand. As soon as you disturb the sand, lots of things will be introduced to the water column and make it cloudy - you dont want that water.

 

[LJLKRL]

I killed a whole tank reusing a sand bed once. All I did was siphon it out and move it to another tank across the room! I rinsed it in clean SW too...anyway the tank crashed overnight. Never again...go with new sand and your same live rock. You can probably catch the nassarius if you lure them out with something to eat.

If you want your snails just use a fish net or colander to sift the sand under water. It will catch them all and the sand will fall through.