Is it terrible to replace old sand with live sand?

[TLKAg87]

I'm moving a reef tank to my house tomorrow. I want to replace the sand, and the only thing I can get today is live sand. No dry sand is available close by. The tank has a ton of algae, of all kinds. I want to remove the sand, clean the tank, and put in new sand. I do know to leave some of the old sand in the bottom. Am I inviting a disaster in using live sand?

 

[lewisriverfisherman]

If it was me I would save a couple of handfuls of the sand and set it aside but try to keep it alive. Then I would clean all the sand that's left and reuse it. Use the saved sand to reseed hope this helps

 

[philosophile]

If it has algae problems, you should probably just start fresh with a new cycle.

Your old sand will probably be more alive than bagged live sand. But it also probably has a lot of gunk and detritus that will be feeding the algae.

So if possible, start fresh. If this isn’t possible, then I wouldn’t replace the sand. I would vacuum the sand bed aggressively for a couple of weeks, not feed the tank at all, lights out for a week and try to do some frequent water changes and aggressively skim to take care of the algae problem.

With each water change i’d take some rock out and swish it in the changed water to really clean out the detritus that has built up in it.

 

[TLKAg87]

Thanks. There is currently finger leather coral, a clownfish, brittle star and some hermits and snails that I have seen. If it cycles will I lose all of that?

 

[lejeune981]

If all your rock is live and obviously it is since you currently have fish and coral... putting new sand in.. be it dry or live sand.. shouldn't make your tank cycle..
"Cycling" a tank is in essence growing the bacteria for the nitrogen cycle.. your rock has all this bacteria on it already.. the sand does as well..

What is the reason you want to replace the sand ?

All in all.. you should be fine.. pull the rock out and shake it in a bucket if saltwater to get all the old poo out of it before you put it back in.. you won't lose any of the bacteria as long as the rock stays wet..

 

[TLKAg87]

If all your rock is live and obviously it is since you currently have fish and coral... putting new sand in.. be it dry or live sand.. shouldn't make your tank cycle..
"Cycling" a tank is in essence growing the bacteria for the nitrogen cycle.. your rock has all this bacteria on it already.. the sand does as well..

What is the reason you want to replace the sand ?

All in all.. you should be fine.. pull the rock out and shake it in a bucket if saltwater to get all the old poo out of it before you put it back in.. you won't lose any of the bacteria as long as the rock stays wet..

I have read that your sand will not last indefinitely, and this sand is filthy. I was hoping that would help me get a jump on controlling the algae and yucky stuff. I have attached a photo.

 

[lapin]

On the new set up with new sand you might

 

[philosophile]

Yeah if you have livestock, you will lose it all in a cycle.

If you have a LFS that will take the livestock for credit so you can clean up the tank, I’d do that.

If that isn’t possible... then go with my second suggestion in my post above.

Sand is inert for the most part. So it’s a process of cleaning the sand without destroying the bacteria. Vacuum it, but not so much that you eliminate all the bacteria. Maybe vacuum only 1/4 of the sand each week. Hand remove the algae.