should i use my old sand bed?

Ok im up grading to a 150 i have a 110. my sand bed is about 4 in deep.
should i use my old sand in the 150 or buy new?Didn't know if there would be any side effects on using the old or even the new.
Any help will be helpful.
 
I prefer to go new. You can seed with some of the old. It it isn't real old you may rinse it very well with Ro water and use it. Expect it to cycle.
 
As you probably the whole beauty of a DSB in a large reef tank is to grow anerobic nitrate reducing bacteria in the deeper anoxic areas of the deep sand bed. Something I now miss in my nano. Since the footprint of your sandbed is likely increasing you will need more sand. I believe the general recommendation is to add the new sand, then transfer the sand into the new tank. This will allow the new sand to become quickly repopulated with anaerobic bacteria and the mixture of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria will quickly settle out with the new oxygen gradient.

Unfortunately, some people do not recommend strictly transferring your livestock into the tank until your sandbed quickly recycles. I have also heard of livestock loss when you disrupt a DSB (i.e a powerhead falling and mixing up the sand). So if you follow all three recommendations, you will have to remove your corals to a third tank, transfer the sand and wait for it to quickly recycle and then move in to your new bigger tank. I would also run carbon as I somewhat recall sometimes toxins being trapped in a DSB but I cannot say for sure.

The reason I remember researching this was when I moved to Oklahoma, I too was moving a 4 inch DSB. Unfortunately, the movers did not have room for the tank which I requested to be put in last so I could restart. Thus my break from reefing. I hope that helps.
 
Sorry, I forgot to mention my dad did this when he moved his tank and the sand and tank quickly recycled, three days I believe. He ran his livestock in rubbermaids for that weekend. Everything lived including his SPS and pretty powder blue tang.
 
I would only transfer the topmost layer to the new tank. Be sure that it goes into the new tank pretty quickly after removal or you will begin to experience dieoff.
 
George. I recommend salvaging the top 1 inch of the existing sand bed to transfer to the the new tank and you can even salvage more than that with success. I have moved my 50g twice and reused the entire sand bed.
 
x3 what dooleyb and Virginia Reef said about using the top layer. If you want to use the rest I would rinse and rinse again with ro/di water.
 
With the weather, I have had some cancellations and time to do research on this topic. So the toxic thing that could theoretically be released when mucking with a DSB is hydrogen sulfide gas. The danger of this is apparently debatable. It sounds as if dooleyb was able to transfer his entire sand bed. Just curious, how long did it take to re-cycle?

Here is what Bob Goemans (he is a plenum/DSB expert and even wrote a book about sand beds, can you believe that?) about a situation similar to yours. I followed his advice when moving my dad's and planning my tank move.

http://www.coralreefecosystems.com/aboutus_articles.htmhttp://www.coralreefecosystems.com/aboutus_articles.htm

I hope this helps.
 
As with every tank move, you are going to encounter some loss. The goal is to keep the loss to as little as possible. As mentioned before, I have moved one of my tanks twice and also moved my son's tank a couple of times preserving the existing sand bed. Make sure that the existing sand is covered with water during the move and siphon off any detritus. You will need to preserve as much of the water from the existing tank as possible. Once the new tank is set up add additional filtration for the first week or so and run carbon. Hang-on aquarium filters do a great job. Remember to change the filter often. Add a prefilter sponge to the powerheads as well. Do 10% water changes twice a week and reduce the lighting period during the first couple of weeks.
 
There is a BIG difference between DSB and what most people have in a sand bed. Most people only have about 2" of sand, DSB range from 4-6" of sand.
 
I rinsed my sand with DI water about 10-15 times and transferred it over. Plus I added 2 more bags of sand, but I put the new in first after I rinsed it, then the old sand on top of that.
 
Thanks for all the help.I used the top inch of my old sand bed.I moved into the new tank on wed. with little loss
Thanks again for all the help
 
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