transfer existing sand? Yes or No?

[returnofsid]

I'm in the process of setting up a 200 gallon deep dimension. I have an existing 75 gallon reef tank. Everything from the 75 will be transferred to the 200, except a few soft corals, that I don't want in the 200, and a couple of fish that aren't compatible with my future plans...lol.

My question is regarding the sand bed. I originally set up a semi-shallow sand bed, about 2" deep, in the 75. This was about 3 years ago. In that time, the sand bed has been stirred up quite well, by quite a few Nassarius snails and even more so, by my Yellow Watchman Goby/Pistol Shrimp pair. The Pistol Shrimp is constantly moving the sand bed around and piling it up in places.

The 300 has a footprint of 48"X36". The amount of sand in the 75 would give me about 1" or so, if transferred.

However, I've heard both good and bad of re-using sand beds, so am coming here for advice!!!

Any thoughts!!!???

 

[estanoche]

Seems like a waste to toss out perfectly good sand - I'd rinse it tho in a lil in your throw away saltwater to get some of the organics out during the transfer

 

[Holygral]

Seems like a waste to toss out perfectly good sand - I'd rinse it tho in a lil in your throw away saltwater to get some of the organics out during the transfer

Start fresh, eliminate all the nastys that may be hiding in your old sand. Sand is MUCH cheaper than live stock. So is peace of mind, with the size of the build you are doing, new sand is a very small part. You can use a cup or two for reseading

 

[Chichas01]

Keep the sand. It has all the critters a new bed does not that make it healthy.

 

[treehugger]

keep a bit to seed the new sand and start over...i've moved my tank 7 times in the last 5 years and everytime i move the sand no matter how much i rinse it, it just ends up being a disaster...for my 240g i just scoop some of the top stuff off (maybe 1/3 of a 5g bucket) and start fresh with the rest JMO
ps...i'm moving my tank again next weekend back to cali from seattle and will be using all new sand once again

 

[scytale]

keep enough to seed, but toss* the rest.

bought my 80 gallon reef as a whole system and when we broke it down to move it the sand bed (also a SSB) was by far the NASTIEST thing I had ever seen (or seen since)--is amazing how many dead-spots there can be under that rock-work!
is not worth the trouble of trying to rinse it while you're getting the other tank setup, IMO.

*(or just hold onto to it, and then plan to spend ALOT of time rinsing REALLY well, or don't rinse it and use it as an NH3 source to cycle whatever the next project is, after you get bored with the the 200. )

 

[tat2z_21]

I agree with the seeding. When I transferred over to my 75l from a 70 tall It was chaos. so I would just keep a poundor two of it and seed the tank or even put it in your refugium to jump start that.

 

[Darthv247]

The majority of the sand should be fine. especially the top few inches and the sand towards the front of the tank that has been stirred on occasion but i wouldnt keep it all.

 

[MrSculpin]

Well both our LFS's told me to reuse my sand. Granted it was a smaller amount. I went from the 29 gal to the 75.
Used what I had and I had to buy some new.

I followed their instructions, didn't rinse it.

 

[Scooterman]

One thing you have mature sb because it was so thin. If you plan on adding enough to make 3 or more inches then you could reuse a good bit to seed, mAybe a 1/4 of your total sb. No use using more as it won't be useful for anything else. Sand is cheap when you consider the cost of what your building, IMO do it right the first time & be done with it.

 

[tamarindthai]

i will not do itit will not take loong at all from dead sand become live sand,,start it thin.

 

[Taqpol]

Shallow sand bed plus seeding with one or two cups of your old sand.

 

[melsmom]

Sid for what it's worth, when I went from my 55 to my 90 I reused the sand I got with the 90. I rinsed it like mad, and have had NO problems at all! Good luck