Moving refugium question

Daddio · Apr 2, 2014

Will be setting up new tank/sump in a couple of weeks and have a question about my DSB in my old refugium.

I was going to repurpose my sand to keep all the goodness alive and help with the cycle. My plan was to rinse the sand in some of the current tank water to get rid of some of the detritus, add it along with some new to make up for the larger refugium area.

How "clean" should I get the old sand - just get rid of the major crud - or really rinse until the water is running clear.

I haven't vacuumed my refugium for years and it is pretty nasty but don't want to lose the good stuff in there.

redfishbluefish · Apr 2, 2014

Here's my two cents.....

I would take a cup of your old sand....more towards the surface, and that's it....to seed the new DSB.

You have DSB with differing bacteria. I would assume the lower sand is packed with anaerobic bacteria, while closer to the surface is aerobic. If you pull the sand out, you will mix up the bacteria.....resulting in death.

If you do wish to re-use this sand, I would totally clean it. This is time consuming, requiring considerable amount of water. I've done this before, usning a five gallon bucket about half full of sand. Using a garden hose, I run the hose up and down in the sand and let the bucket overflow. This typically takes maybe about ten to fifteen minutes before the water is running clean. I then spread the sand out on very large trays and let it dry. Depending on the amount of sand, I repeat with another half bucket. Now I'd have clean, dry, "dead" sand.

Daddio · Apr 2, 2014

Thanks... Not worried about reusing the sand... just the bacteria and organisms. I was trying to save them but I may just start fresh and seed as you stated. The sand in the sump is over 10 years old and what you said makes total sense. I was not looking forward to cleaning it anyway - it is pretty gross. Who know what is in there!

I had used oolite-sized sand in the sump previously for the "tightness" of the sand - good idea to repeat or go with a little larger grain size?