Scott thank you for that reference agreed this is prime material for our sand rinse thread. We're testing predictions there, we think surface area/ bacteria issues in reefs work as reliable as a grandfather clock and do not need testing, supplementation in times like this etc.
my opinion and id love to see follow up final pics here, is if this sandbed isn't rinsed 100% for reasons stated above, putting it back in is a total risk.
The bacteria simply dont matter, the live rocks are always enough, always, and in not one case has removing sand altogether made an unstable tank given the live rock carrying over. the sand rinse thread, thirty pages of these calls. Id love to see this tank followed up with when reset back up.
id tap rinse the sand to total clarity, then ro to evacuate tap, then either dry it or store it, sandbed bacteria simply do not matter unless you use zero live rock. we're not even sure if rinsing does kill bac, because they just dont matter.
we have many people who just remove the sandbed altogether, all at once, because in addition to not mattering, live rock do NOT take on bacteria from a missing sandbed, the rocks are always enough on their own (convoluted high surface area) to handle the same bioload that sand + rocks used to handle. removing, rinsing, boiling, flipping, mixing, doesnt matter as long as we arent dealing in detritus casting all around, and dead microfauna.
the exact analogy to this claim is anyone here hooking up 7 canister filters and running them two years. they'll be cycled, functional, removing ammonia and producing nitrate. You can remove all 7 at once, AND the sandbed too, and the rocks simply carry your same fish bioload. It doesnt matter how much accessory bac we add and then rudely remove; live rock is enough on its own always.
