Moving question

kita_katan

New member
Hi all!

I will be moving apartments mid December, my question is should I replace my sand bed with new sand or is it ok to just rinse it and reuse what's currently in the tank now? Its not a DSB, its only about an inch deep so I wasn't sure.

Thanks!
 
I'm not even sure I'd "rinse" it... but there's a few things that go into the equation... Rinsing will probably necessitate a cycle...

How far is the move?/How long will the sand be without water?
How big is the tank?
What type of system do you have (FOWLR, FO, Reef?)

For instance: I've moved my FOWLR 20g (to my classroom) from home. Drained to the sand bed (2 5g buckets w/lids) keeping 5g of "top water", put live rock in a bucket with old water, sacrificed shop towels to put on top of sand so any chance of a little sloshing would not disturb the sand. (Because I disturbed the sand bed so little, I greatly reduced the chances of a cycle later). I moved the tank to my classroom, refilled with 1 5g bucket of old water (about 30% old water), tossed the water of LR bucket but replaced the aqua scape, filled with pre-mix new saltwater (66% new), added fish, and hoped for the best. The fish showed very little to no signs of stress. The whole process was less than 5 miles and down and up within 2 hours. I did 32oz (big gulp) water changes weekly for the next month. My advice... don't disturb the sand (unless you want to wait out a big cycle... less disturbance = less of a cycle).

Things might be a little different if it were my 72g reef tank, but given circumstance that I HAD to move it, I probably would do the same with a little more precautions. It's the LR and sand that have most of the bacteria content that synthesizes the water cycle, and as long as the LR is kept wet in salt water and the sand is disturbed minimally, you reduce your chances of a big spike.
 
the surface area on the sand is small. Anytime you breakdown or move or what have you, your going to kill off some BB, that is a given. Your LR will be your biggest filter that houses your BB. That is why you keep it in a bucket or tote wet to put back into the new tank or location. The sand also can store alot of crud and stuff you can not see until you remove it, so that why I say keep the sand but rinse it. I have moved many a tank, just did my 125 to a 180 using the same sand after I rinsed it. Fish goes right in (not adding any more than I had) and never an issue. Just my 2 cents.....
 
I'd say if you move it in one day, just dump it in.. any longer than that you'll have so much die off that the sand will be putred. In that case, I'd definitely rinse it
 
Thank you all for the responses!

My tank is a 60 gallon and we are moving about 20-25 min away so it will be moved in one day. I am thinking about taking as much of the water as possible and putting the live rock in totes and then covering it with water from the tank.

How would you rinse the sand? I don't want to use tap water because of the chemicals, so I would guess I would need to use RO but how would you rinse it if its in buckets?
 
I moved my tank a few times already! I rinsed my sand with tap water and the final wash with RO water. But do keep ½ bucket of your old sand not rinsed (I usually used the very top portion of my sand), so you can re seed your sand again once washed.. Your live rock will also play a big part to help with the good bacteria!

Also have extra water ready for a water change at least 15% (10gal mixed) in case of an emergency and to fill the DT up.. I always kept my corals and fish in holding tub until tank got cleared after set-up (usually next day).. You will be amazed how much water you lose after a move..

Make sure this is the last thing you move as this kills time..lol!!
 
Also be very careful using heaters in small amounts of water. Don’t want to use a 150W heater in a 5gal bucket : )

My mistake during my freshwater days!!!
 
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