New tank, old sand or new sand?

[Fishfinder]

im setting up a new tank. Current tank is 10 months old. Should I get new sand and dump the old or can I keep the sand without issues?

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

How dirty is your old sand? If there's nothing nasty in it I don't see why it wouldn't work after a good saltwater rinse.

 

[cloak]

You can go ahead and use the sand you already have, just give it a good rinse with the garden hose before you put it in the new tank. You might want to siphon out the top 1/4" or so and set this aside though. This "live sand" will kind of give the substrate a jump start as far as bacteria and micro fauna are concerned.

 

[Troy V]

It would depend on the size of the system. If you are only talking about a bag or 2 of sand I would buy new sand, and seed the new sand with a cup of old. But if it's 100lbs I could see using old. But I would rinse the heck out of the old sand, like Cloak recommended. Anytime old established sand is being used in a new system. You are introducing a large bioload from the bacterial and microfauna death and decomposition. Especially when you start to rinse it in fresh water. I've seen this lead to a nasty Dino out break in a new system.

 

[Fishfinder]

Just to add I will be using all my live rock and fuge. I'm trying to prevent much of a cycle