Rinsing old sand

[snake1]

I have an old tank with 25 to 30 pounds of fiji pink that has been in that tank for 6+years , i`m setting up a new tank and was wondering if i scoop it all up and put in in a 5 gallon bucket and flush it out do i have to run r/o water through it or can i just run house water from the hose .....i know there are potential phosphates ....and the reason i dont just put it from my tank to the new tank is this tank has been sitting for a year with no water movement so the sand is dead for sure....any suggestions would be cool thanks...

 

[asbauto]

I would just replace it, are the risks worth 20 bucks. I'm still fighting a nitrate and phosphate issues due to reusing sand it's going on 2 months now

 

[Easttuth]

Throw it away

 

[koddyVT]

I would probably get rid of it as well. I know some people have success with continuing to rinse the sand but the risks are also high.

 

[snake1]

It was a gut feeling to throw away.... but now I'm gonna 86 it after the responses thanks for your input...

 

[BobbyV]

Sand is the devil .. .. ..

 

[snake1]

i have been thinking bare bottom on the new tank 30 gallon and my current 90 gallon sps tank but i have to do more research on what is needed to keep the bio load

 

[anbosu]

Bare bottom is a lot easier to maintain. My wife likes sand though, so my tanks have sand in them.

 

[snake1]

The other problem is if I add 40 gallon fuge to my 90 reef with mainly sps and transfer all my main display sand all 140 pounds of bahama oolite to the fuge would this cause a huge problem like a cycle or would I risk killing all my corals....

 

[anbosu]

The other problem is if I add 40 gallon fuge to my 90 reef with mainly sps and transfer all my main display sand all 140 pounds of bahama oolite to the fuge would this cause a huge problem like a cycle or would I risk killing all my corals....

Yes, it is likely you would have issues if you just moved it over. However, if you removed it, rinsed it out extremely well, then added it to the fuge later you would be far less likely to have issues.

 

[rfalvey89]

Toss it

 

[koddyVT]

I had to move about a month ago and ended up throwing away all my tank's sand. I rebuilt the tank using the exact same rock/fish/corals and I'm really liking the bare bottom. It definitely seems more manageable.

 

[snake1]

I had to move about a month ago and ended up throwing away all my tank's sand. I rebuilt the tank using the exact same rock/fish/corals and I'm really liking the bare bottom. It definitely seems more manageable.

i know im thinking it would be good with an all sps tank i could run a powerhead towards the bottom and keep any detritus off the bottom and in the filter sock where it belongs ...im pretty impressed with the sps tanks that are bare bottom