Preparing for a tank upgrade

[Chayo]

Hello all, I’m looking for some advice as I am preparing to upgrade my tank due to seam issues. I have read some of the threads on replacing or rinsing old substrate. I think I will be going with replacing it with new sand. Can you ladies/gents suggest what type of sand to go for? I think I want a bigger sized grain to minimize the sandstorms? Should I be buying ”live sand“ or dry, and do I have to rinse them both until the water runs clear? I do have a melanurus wrasse who loves sleeping in the substate. I do plan on getting a starfish/or goby to help move sand around. I’d apreciate the shared experiences with all the pros and cons. My girl really likes the look of the Carib sea black sand but I think I’ve read that sand has metals that can stick on your magnets and scratch the glass?
Thanks

 

[DeepintheReef]

Hello all, I’m looking for some advice as I am preparing to upgrade my tank due to seam issues. I have read some of the threads on replacing or rinsing old substrate. I think I will be going with replacing it with new sand. Can you ladies/gents suggest what type of sand to go for? I think I want a bigger sized grain to minimize the sandstorms? Should I be buying ”live sand“ or dry, and do I have to rinse them both until the water runs clear? I do have a melanurus wrasse who loves sleeping in the substate. I do plan on getting a starfish/or goby to help move sand around. I’d apreciate the shared experiences with all the pros and cons. My girl really likes the look of the Carib sea black sand but I think I’ve read that sand has metals that can stick on your magnets and scratch the glass?
Thanks

I use Fiji pink in the majority of my customers tanks. It’s fine enough to stay put with moderate to heavy flow. The next size up is special grade but I feel the grain size is too large for my taste.

 

[brandon429]

its not possible to get reefers to agree on pre rinsing live sand, they say it harms bac and that the bac matters.

whichever threads you've read about transfers likely come with many examples of the pre rinse step for live sand, its recommended to keep that step. having clouding in the new tank isn't beneficial and the bacteria don't matter, its the live rock that matters. any sand you buy should be pre rinsed in tap for hours if required, then RO, then used.

the reason we tap rinse old sand if its being used is because tap will not run out halfway, we can rinse clear. the mud is the dangerous part

new sand has no danger, its cloud is silty silicates that we rinse out so the new tank isn't cloudy for days...again, many reefers say that will not happen but in actual transfer threads, it happened twenty times hence all the rinsing.

if you don't rinse the new sand it doesn't make your new tank more insulated against recycling, moving all clean surfaces is how we prevent cycling, by thorough cleaning, the opposite of what the masses would agree to.

 

[Chayo]

its not possible to get reefers to agree on pre rinsing live sand, they say it harms bac and that the bac matters.

whichever threads you've read about transfers likely come with many examples of the pre rinse step for live sand, its recommended to keep that step. having clouding in the new tank isn't beneficial and the bacteria don't matter, its the live rock that matters. any sand you buy should be pre rinsed in tap for hours if required, then RO, then used.

the reason we tap rinse old sand if its being used is because tap will not run out halfway, we can rinse clear. the mud is the dangerous part

new sand has no danger, its cloud is silty silicates that we rinse out so the new tank isn't cloudy for days...again, many reefers say that will not happen but in actual transfer threads, it happened twenty times hence all the rinsing.

if you don't rinse the new sand it doesn't make your new tank more insulated against recycling, moving all clean surfaces is how we prevent cycling, by thorough cleaning, the opposite of what the masses would agree to.

I will be buying sand and rinsing it before the tank arrives giving myself the time for it. Once I clean it, is it okay to just store in buckets until I can get it in the tank?

 

[brandon429]

Absolutely that will work

 

[Jekyl]

For my next tank I'm using all gulfliverock.com sand. That's just me though.

 

[brandon429]

that's one we would not rinse ha nice one

all the bagged stuff though/rip it away yep.

other key highlights:

ramp down lights at new place, not full power. a week to back up where you wanted or longer.

feed well

watch out for detritus transfer in hidden places...ie stuck to the bottom of live rock

twist/swish live rock in old tankwater/saltwater we're caring for those bacteria but they're not weak either

for any algae zones rasp off the algae with a knife tip, roughed away, rinsed. final clean spot gets a dab of peroxide as a cellular burn, spot cleared. dentistry your whole rock area before packing for move

move clean items

all new water, pure sand, check that cloud even after storage rinse

clean water

rocks detailed yet brought over from the other tank, 100% skip cycle for fifty pages.

 

[uhgster1]

The latest news we're getting now concerning bacterial diversity confirms what I always suspected in my gut. If you have a healthy thriving system and upgrade to a larger aquarium, it's rather silly to just rinse off the biodiversity that took some time to settle and transfer to the new tank. I had a Nuvo 10 gallon aquarium and upgraded to a JBJ 28 that I then upgraded to a 65 Aqueon. I transferred ALL of my sand and rock to the new tanks without rinsing every time. I added new live sand because of the larger volume and DRY rock also. I did not experience an ammonia cycle. Zilch, nada, not a thing, and I tested religiously every day for two weeks. The only precaution I took was to not start stocking the tanks with new inhabitants so that the new volume of substrates had enough time to build up the bacterial population. The dry rock looked like the rest of the live rock in about a month. I think that if you have an established tank you should reconsider killing the filtration that took so long to establish. This was a risk I took and I am not telling anyone that it's the way. But I would bet there are way more reef keepers out there have done this than will admit to it. Just a common sense logical conclusion, if the bio-filtration was already supporting the previous aquarium why is it not going to continue to do so provided the bio-load doesn't change, in a larger volume of water? The bacteria is in the substrate not the water. Just food for thought.

 

[brandon429]

I agree that the majority of tank moves involve keeping all or some of the old sand

80% or so, someone should start a poll in fact. but its the majority that's agreed


but

link for me here how many actual tank transfer threads you can locate. Roadmap threads with other's tanks, I know of three ish. instructionals...where people post follow up logs, pics, outcomes, eight month updates.

two of the avail examples have no examples other than the author to show for the recommended steps, web posts are similar in that regard.

one of the examples searchable is hundreds of tanks using all other people's reefs, and there's only one of those threads- why not more than one is the question. what are they doing in that thread to make it run so long with no losses

 

[uhgster1]

I agree that the majority of tank moves involve keeping all or some of the old sand

80% or so, someone should start a poll in fact. but its the majority that's agreed


but

link for me here how many actual tank transfer threads you can locate. Roadmap threads with other's tanks, I know of three ish. instructionals...where people post follow up logs, pics, outcomes, eight month updates.

two of the avail examples have no examples other than the author to show for the recommended steps, web posts are similar in that regard.

one of the examples searchable is hundreds of tanks using all other people's reefs, and there's only one of those threads- why not more than one is the question. what are they doing in that thread to make it run so long with no losses

I agree. I just feel like so much of the information we get is regurgitation of the same o' same o'. I don't have access to my home computer at the moment but I can show you progression pics all the way from the 10 gallon to the 65, which Ill post later. you will see the exact same rocks moving from aquarium to aquarium. It would be good to see an actual scientific testing of this professionally done.

 

[Chayo]

that's one we would not rinse ha nice one

all the bagged stuff though/rip it away yep.

other key highlights:

ramp down lights at new place, not full power. a week to back up where you wanted or longer.

feed well

watch out for detritus transfer in hidden places...ie stuck to the bottom of live rock

twist/swish live rock in old tankwater/saltwater we're caring for those bacteria but they're not weak either

for any algae zones rasp off the algae with a knife tip, roughed away, rinsed. final clean spot gets a dab of peroxide as a cellular burn, spot cleared. dentistry your whole rock area before packing for move

move clean items

all new water, pure sand, check that cloud even after storage rinse

clean water

rocks detailed yet brought over from the other tank, 100% skip cycle for fifty pages.

So use newly mixed saltwater? rather then a mix of the old water and new water? Current tank is 120gal with 30 gal sump. Going to a 215 gal

 

[brandon429]

some old water is ok no prob. lends some carry over nutrients and it can be drawn off the top area initially before any clouding from the current tank. its the particulate waste we're careful to exclude

80% old water will be zero harm as well, that's a lot of fine water to throw away agreed.

this is true reef tank surgery, thousands of dollars in time and bioware on the line, pls take pics of the setup if possible (as If you don't have ten plates to already spin he he) but we're confident in this method. it always feels weird to be rinsing sand, even for me, let the official record reflect.

in about 10% of our sand rinse thread jobs we didn't even put sand back after the move, that's why how we treat it doesn't matter much unless its that specific kind with crawling bugs in it.

By specifically applying the principle that live rock can and does take on orders more bioload without ramp up, that allows you to execute a successful move every time because we can trust that the live rock moved will always be enough and we can be thorough w the sand.

amazing and rare case in point, it works in reverse too, that law: this man added twenty clowns all at once to a smallish tank, wowing everyone with the surface area instant ability:

Suddenly add 20 fish to Established tank

Hi Reefers I need some advice from experts here. So my 65 gallon tank is about 2 years old and was housing 4 fish and around 20+ anemone. Recently I converted into a clownfish harem by adding 20 clownfish all at one time. Suppose 20 is a good number for them not to fight. Right now...

www.reef2reef.com

live rocks do not require ramp up to take on bioload. we can rob the surrounding surface area, or just stack orders more demand instantly on them, they're nearly magical in ability.

 

[brandon429]

Hey when's the move/ work date for this big job was curious

 

[CMMorgan]

I'm going to +1 on the veto of black sand. Been there, done that... never again.
My new tank is arriving today!! (woot woot)
I'm ordering 75 pounds of new sand from gulf live rock, the rest I will reuse with SW rinsed existing. My nitrates have gotten under control - mostly... lol, so I can't see throwing the baby (i.e. bio) out with the bathwater (i.e. SW). I need to go though all of that sand anyway to find my CUC.
I may change my mind over the next few days but that is the plan.
Feel free to tag along on the build thread, it's about to get busy.
Good luck on your build!!

 

[Chayo]

Hey when's the move/ work date for this big job was curious

If everything goes as planned sometime the week of 3/8-3/12

 

[Jekyl]

If everything goes as planned sometime the week of 3/8-3/12

So in reefing terms sometime between April and 2025 Lol

 

[Chayo]

So in reefing terms sometime between April and 2025 Lol

haha I hope that’s not the case since the glass is being held together right now by the reef gods and I don’t know how much longer they want to be helping