I agree with using new sand. But I like to place a cup or so of the old sand to the new tank. Dirt and all. This adds all the pods and things that live in the sand to the new tank, plus all the bacterial strains you have managed to get. Some bacteria spread better through films rather than just being dumped in the tank. If your old sand looks different, spread it in a back corner and after a few days cover it with the new.
If you have a healthy tank based on live rock or biomedia that you can move to a new tank you will not need to cycle the new tank. Do not add a bunch of new things at once right away. Add them slowly and grow your biofilter.
The biomedia or rock from your old tank will be enough in the new tank for the animals that came from the old tank until the new tank contents become colonized with bacteria. Just feed sparingly for a week or two. Then you can add new things slowly and feed more.
It's very much like starting a garden and takes the same patience.
Yes there is now bottled bacteria and it works. IF it has been handled correctly and refrigerated the entire time and is not old. I have bought some very expensive bottles that were complete duds and did nothing.
Cycling has become a catchy phrase that has lost it's meaning.
It comes from the nitrogen cycle you establish when you start a tank. The amount of waste a tank can process will change every time you make a change to something in the tank. New animals, more food, less food, more rocks, more flow and lots of other things will change the nitrogen cycle in the tank.
Your tank is forever cycling in a sense.
The term used to refer to what you saw on water tests with the initial nitrogen cycle of a tank. You threw a piece of shrimp in and waited. The bacteria came from the air on dust and from stuff placed in the tank, sometimes from dirt found outside.
You watched the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates to tell if your biofilter started. When the first humps on the graph went away you stated slowly adding animals.
Now people say I overfed my tank and caused a cycle. No, you caused an ammonia spike and need to do a water change. Maybe more than one.