Question on moving a tank

[uscgbeachbum]

I have already began moving the stuff from my college house into a condo w/ my fiance. I will be setting up both my 29g and 55g in the dining room, plumbed together, and be separated by a custom ("buffet" as the fiance calls it) table (skirted) so I can hide most of my equipment. The real dilema...I have about a 4" dsb in the 55g (29 currently empty). Larger rocks are pushed into the sand bed for stability. The condo is on the second story so while carrying up the stairs the tank will be tilted to approx 45 deg. Do I remove the entire sandbed and discard? I was thinking about setting up 1 or 2 of those remote deep sand beds with 2 5g buckets, but those don't start working instantly. Will my nitrates skyrocket if I take the sand out all at one time? Ideas? Suggestions?

 

[Blown 346]

If the tank with the DSB has been setup for some time I would throw it all away, and replace it.
If you take out all the sand at once you are going to release nitrates and maybe even anerobic zones, which can cause your tank to crash. I would take out as much water as you can and save it. Then take the sand bed out as the last thing to be done.

 

[wetWolger]

i would remove the sand bed and rinse it with salt water. That way you remove a lot of the junk in it, and you don't have to buy new sand. Assuming you have enough live rock I doubt you will have much if any problem with nitrates.

 

[uscgbeachbum]

Thanks for the info. Maybe I should also run one of those water wheel things for a few weeks before I move. Think that would help while my remote dsb is kicking into gear?