Tank tear down

I

iaJim

New member
I'm thinking of putting down hardwood flooring in the house, so that means taking down my 58 gal. reef tank while the process is going on. I know it isn't a one day deal, so I thought that I would move everything into an empty 55 gal that I have in the basement in my office. I know that I can move the water, fish, invertebrates, coral and live rock, but I don't know what to do about the sand bed. I have a medium sand bed, and the tank has been up for maybe 16 years. Should I start over with a new sand bed and seed it with starts of the sand I have? I see people selling live sand from set-ups, so I don't want to just throw out something that may be of perfect use.

What should I do?
 
Re: Tank tear down

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7356730#post7356730 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by iaJim
I'm thinking of putting down hardwood flooring in the house, so that means taking down my 58 gal. reef tank while the process is going on. I know it isn't a one day deal, so I thought that I would move everything into an empty 55 gal that I have in the basement in my office. I know that I can move the water, fish, invertebrates, coral and live rock, but I don't know what to do about the sand bed. I have a medium sand bed, and the tank has been up for maybe 16 years. Should I start over with a new sand bed and seed it with starts of the sand I have? I see people selling live sand from set-ups, so I don't want to just throw out something that may be of perfect use.

What should I do?
Click to expand...


I just tore my 38g tank down and moved it 2 and half hours and I was able to keep my sand in the tank with whatever water I couldn't siphon out. My sand bed's about 3" deep, and it really wasn't too bad to lift with 2 people. If it is too heavy, I'd take out the water, fish, and rocks, put them in buckets/tubs, then remove the sand and put it all back in reverse :)
 
I'd try to leave the sandbed intact.....who knows what you'd be stirring up from down deep after 16 years? If you can't I'd replace it. Either way, I'd also buy a bottle of Turbo Start to counteract any cycling that might occur. Just my two cents:)

Janey
 
my opinion - if you remove that sand it will start another cycle when you move it into a new place - so keep it damp and in the tank and move the tank - cover it tightly to keep out dust and then re-setup the tank when you have the new hardwood floors.

Also - if you hire out the hardwood floors - DO NOT USE Louie's flooring.
 
No other opinions? How many of you have done this? I think the tank will be down a week, so will it cycle anyway?
 
i agree with overanalyzer...BUT...i would leave a couple iches of water, a heater, and a powerhead in 58g. to keep the sand from dying.
-JMO
 
If the tank is down a week and the sand is out and just sitting in buckets, I think it would cycle and you'd have alot or most of your bacteria die. I just got 200# of sand from a 75g, and put it into another tank with water, a heater, a powerhead and there has been no ammonia rise, not yet anyway. The sand was out of the original tank for 5-6 hours in buckets with enough water to keep it moist.
 
Dr. Ron advocates tossing out the sandbed and starting anew. He's the guy who came up with the deep sandbed idea.
There were posts on it but I don't know where they are after he left reefcentral.
 
I just want to share an experience that I had with an old sandbed. Not that this will happen with any of you guys but it happened to me. When I switched to a 120gal from a 75 gal I bought a guys sandbed that was 5 years old. I added it to some new southdown. It was fine for about 6 months. After that I started having nitrates. I know that is where they were coming from because when I removed the sandbed my nitrates went to zero. I think sandbeds are fine but IMO they do not like to be disrupted. If I had all that to do over I would have just bought new sand and just used a little sand from about 5 other peoples tank to seed it. You will have a beneficial sandbed again in no time!
 
you are missing the big picture here.

this is going to allow you to get rid of the 58 and get a 120

you know you want to :-)
 
The trouble with having a small house is that there are physical limits on the size of the tank. I have a door on one side and a wall on the other of the tank. A 58 is the longest deepest tank I can get, and my arms aren't long enough for one taller. SO, 58 it is.
 
you are missing the big picture here.

this is going to allow you to get rid of the 58 and get a 120

you know you want to :-)
 
Thanks for all of the input. What do you think the combined weight would be for a 58, 1 inch of sand and enough water to keep it covered? I want to know that an old guy and someone else could lift it.
 
It could be figured out pretty easily....... just need your tank dimensions, not sure how big a 58g is. I had 200# of sand which is about 4" in a 75g tank (4'x2'). That's about 50# an inch in a 75g tank. The tank's themselves are really not that bad/heavy to move, just awkward. With 1" of sand I would think you could do it no problem.
 
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