Moving Sand Beds

[BryanFox79]

I currently have a 75 gal display and 29 gal sump in place that has been running for a year. Due to some recent luck, I will be setting up a 125 with 40 gal sump. I have heard mixed things about transferring sand beds. My 75 gal display currently has about 2-2.5 inches of sand and my sump has about 6 inches of sand. Some have told me that it will be fine to move the sand beds and others have said to start with fresh sand. Has anyone heard of any danger using the same sand that will be disturbed? I have a beautiful mixed reef that with lots of SPS that I do not want to harm. Also, what about completely dry rock that has never been cured? Will this need to be cured, or since there is no dying bacteria on it to cure, will it be fine to drop in? Thanks for any help offered.

 

[flamron]

I would start with new sand, and seed it with a couple of cups from the old tank. Just skim the top 1/2" or so of the sand bed and you will have a fully functioning sandbed in no time!

I would definitely "wash" the rock with some vinegar/water mix and probably cycle it for at least a few weeks just to be sure that all the "dead" organics on the rock don't cause an ammonia spike.

HTH,
Ron

 

[BryanFox79]

Thanks. That is what the majority are saying.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Shimek and a few others have spoken about the subject at length. Much of the life in the bed will be damaged by moving it. As others have mentioned, you need to start fresh. You can of course seed it from the old bed.

 

[mmounajjed]

I just moved my sand bed 3-4 weeks ago, I had some problem with my tank and I got new one. I have 100 G tank 2-3 in sand
I didn't rinse the sand just reused it.
I have been checking ammonia nitrate often still undetectable levels.
initially I had decrease in the number of critters, now I started seeing them again.
This is the second time I moved the sand first time was 2 years ago and everything recovered
The corals are actually better.
I would just use the old sand

 

[electraglide999]

I recently upgraded to a larger aquaium. I just transfered the sand and added some new on top of the old. No problems to report on based on my experience.

 

[tanyashankles]

I transferred my old sand to my new tank and killed almost every fish I had. If you are going to use old sand, I would definitely do what electraglide says and add some new on top of the old. It will save some money on adding a whole new sandbed, but be covered by new sand to keep the yuck down. I would also recommend waiting until all settles and is cleared up before adding anything live, thats how I killed all my fish and some of my corals. I added them to the murky tank, because I didnt want to keep them in a bag overnight, and then realized afterward they would have been SAFER in the bag than dumping the poor lil guys in the mess of water that was in the tank...Anyway just some advice from the peanut gallery...T

 

[Ron Popeil]

i moved old sand into a new tank system and had continuous PO4 levels of over .12 that didnt decrease until i replaced all of the sand. this was the same experience a friend had as well.

i would definitely recommend replacing sand during a move.

 

[mmounajjed]

When I moved mine, The new tank was very cloudy, I run the water through the sump for 1-2 h, then I added the fish and the corals, next morrning my corals looked great, and everything survived.
I would mention that I vacumed the old sand a little before I collected it, there was a lot off junk suctioned out.
I did this twice over the last 4 years.

 

[jnb]

me too - no problems - mine was a sort of shallow bed like 1.5 inches - I would do it again.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13156412#post13156412 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mmounajjed
When I moved mine, The new tank was very cloudy, I run the water through the sump for 1-2 h, then I added the fish and the corals, next morrning my corals looked great, and everything survived.
I would mention that I vacumed the old sand a little before I collected it, there was a lot off junk suctioned out.
I did this twice over the last 4 years.

 

[wharfrat48]

I moved my 5-6" DSB from my 75 to my new 180. To do so I removed the top 2" or so with a dustpan (which worked very well) and placed it in a wide bottom rubbermaid container in order to keep the sand depth around 2-3". I did not add any additional water as the sand was plenty moist already. Then I removed the bottom layer of the DSB (anerobic zone) and transferred it to the new tank. Then added some new rinsed sand on top to make up for the increased footprint of the larger tank. Finally. added the sand from the rubbermaid container (which should have all the critters) to the new tank. All this took about an hour or so. If this cant be done in a few hours, Ive heard you can place a wet towel over the top layer of sand, and just put the anerobic layer in a bucket with a top on it. No spikes, no losses, no problems.

 

[emissary43]

I have moved my tank and moved my sand bed many times no problem. The trick is to leave like 6" of water above the sand bed after moving all your rock and coral and well anything but sand out of the tank. Then your vigorously stir it all up. then you siphon out all the water making sure to remove the brown layer of poop that forms on the top of the sand. Another good trick is to set up three buckets of clean water from your tank and shake every piece you take out in order through all three buckets(corals than rocks). You may need to change the buckets out depending on the size of your tank. Don't forget to salvage your hermits and snails from the bottom of the buckets at the end.

you do this and you will have a clear tank in the first couple hours or less of the new placement.

 

[RonMidtownStomp]

I combined 3 tanks and the sand I didn't trust I rinsed by putting it in a Rubbermaid and letting a garden hose run thru it. I mixed it around with gloves and dumped the water off regularly. I probably lost 10-20 percent down the storm drain. The resulting product was clean looking and mixed in well in the tank.

The sand that came out of a live tank I just transferred over.

It took a couple of weeks to cycle the tank with the rock in it, then I added the livestock. Everything is doing great, and it's been about 2 months. I'm working on reducing the nitrates from about 20ppm.

Isn't the answer "it depends on what your goal is?" I was able to keep the livestock in another tank. Can you have both setup at once? I wouldn't move everything into the new tank until you know it's cycled.

Ron

 

[emissary43]

yeah the nitrate issue is probably because you killed the sand when you did that and you couldn't possibly rinse out all the dead micro fauna/flora. if ever rinsing bio media you always use your tank water. even a fresh batch of salt water could kill a large portion of the life.

 

[RonMidtownStomp]

The sand I rinsed was pretty nasty before rinsing. The idea was to rinse most of the dead stuff away. I consider the outcome successful. Budget was key.

 

[scaryperson27]

I siphon my sand beds often and had a pretty clean bed to work with. I just rinsed it in five gallon buckets with salt water and used a couple cups non rinsed. If you think about it, when you buy a new sand bed, you're getting a disturbed sand bed that has been packed in a plastic bag with old water. Transferred sand beds, as long as they are rinsed out are essentially the same if not better. sand is sand.