First reef
Community Member
I would like to know if I can re-use sand from someones tank that they are taking down to move?
Re-using sand?
- Thread starter First reef
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pickupman66
5000 Club Member
I have before but you will need to rinse it...ALOT. but it can be done.
First reef
Community Member
I would be pulling the sand and putting right into my tank.
Not a good idea to just pull it and reuse it, that garbage in that is nasty. It would be best to rinse it until the water runs clear.
pickupman66
5000 Club Member
Agreed. If u can't rinse it really well then trash it and start new. Otherwise. Disaster.
totally agree with everyone! If you can't rinse it real well before using it in your tank, get new sand!
Deep Reef
Active Member
+1 rinse before reuse. I've done this. Take a home depot bucket, put in a pound or so of sand n rinse until water is clear. Then put into another container and store until ready. Give it a week or so to dry out.
dgelz
Active Member
I siphoned the sand in my 70g regularly while it was my main tank. When I upgraded to a 150g, I had no problem making the decision of scooping up about 40lbs and seeding the new tank with it. Mixed it with about 100 lbs of new Fiji pink. New tank is brilliant. No probs.
TruRacr314x
Well-Known Member
I just bought a 55g setup from someone local that was exiting the hobby. I broke everything down, move to my house and set right back up. The sand did get rinsed in sw...it was very nasty at the beginning. I'm sure it could have used more rinsing, but it hasn't caused any issues yet. No way I woulda just reused it without rinsing though...
TJ's Reef
Valuable Member
I have re-used sand many times in the past and will continue to do so as there is IMHO way to much 'Good Stuff' in there to throw away. I typically have just vacuumed off the sand bed very well while removing all the old SW remaining in tank leaving relatively clean and LIVE substrate behind. I will also remove most but not all of the Spaghetti Worms and larger Bristle Worms that are exposed during the process. Bio-diversity within the substrate is one of the biggest pros to having sand in the first place.
Cheers, Todd
Cheers, Todd
zibba
Valuable Member
This isn't necessary. You can set up the tank without sand temporarily, wash/dry all of the sand as others have described (I'd go further and do a lanthanum chloride treatment to remove phosphates) and then add it back in slowly. How much to add back at a time depends on tank volume -- 8-cups/week seems pretty safe for something under 75g. Much less stressful on your tank and the biofiltration in the rock work will be adequate in the meantime.
