Reusing sand from established tank

[shorton]

I need some opinions here..

I just bought a used 90gal tank from a LFS which still had a wet sand bed at the bottom. The tank was a 3 year established reef tank which housed awesome coral inside prior to being emptied recently. Should I empty the tank out and start new? Add new sand on top? or just leave it be?

I will be moving my coral, fish, and live rock into this tank from my 40gal AIO cube.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[FlowGod]

I would rinse the heck out of the sand if you want to use it. In my experience sand beds have tons of detritus in it. I have reused sand after I rinse it with rodi.

 

[brandon429]

you should tap rinse it for about one hour in buckets until it flows so clean you can drink from it

final rinse in ro

set all the stuff back on totally snowglobe cleaned sand, no this doesn't harm bac your rocks have all bac needed and moving live rocks does not cause a recycle. you are about to do what macna tank entrants have done for 30 years without fail. none of them move cloudy reefs for a reason.

flow we literally just hogtied that cycle before it could even begin, as if it were a meaty hog going to roast. done dealio.

 

[aurora.k]

Agree - I read somewhere that you are supposed to clean/replace sand every few years anyway. When I moved recently I replaced sand at the new house (and emptying showed it was kinda gross)

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Rinse well and enjoy your new tank!

 

[Dude60415]

Rinse and reuse. No need to get new sand. And fiy new sand is used sand. All came from the ocean well used before we get it in bags for our tanks.

 

[brandon429]

 

[CMMorgan]

flow we literally just hogtied that cycle before it could even begin, as if it were a meaty hog going to roast. done dealio.

ROTFLOL

 

[brandon429]

Bet: nobody under age 25 gets that meme and 100% of people approaching forty or better do

 

[brandon429]

Since when have ten random reefers agreed on a sandbed procedure

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Bet: nobody under age 25 gets that meme and 100% of people approaching forty or better do

When I reverse image searched it this came up so I assume its related

 

[brandon429]

poltergeist 2


any 80s kid raised on tv was fed hideous images by that movie causing about twelve straight years of fear. at least that's how I saw it go down.

that guy above is the mr clean man updated 2.0 with hip sway, caused more sales increase Ill bet.

 

[Dude60415]

Probably never lol.

Since when have ten random reefers agreed on a sandbed procedure

 

[Reefinmike]

I'll be the devils advocate here- Pitch the sand. It's not worth your time and effort. it's holding onto three years worth of gunk. many of the beneficial critters are likely dead and certainly will be if you spend 14 hours cleaning it out with tap water. How much phosphate is bound up in the sand? how much ammonia will be released from all the life you just killed off? Has it gone anoxic? typically it doesn't take longer than 24 hours for the sand to start going anoxic.

Ocean direct sand is $34 for 40lb on amazon. that sounds like a MUCH easier option...

 

[brandon429]

still gotta pre rinse that exactly the same as stated above, or a massive ten day cloud results, wrecking our beauty process already set

its ok to ditch sand for new, we do that all the time as well. pre rinse whatever is going in new tank, even if the bag says not to.

 

[Reefinmike]

still gotta pre rinse that exactly the same as stated above, or a massive ten day cloud results, wrecking our beauty process already set

its ok to ditch sand for new, we do that all the time as well. pre rinse whatever is going in new tank, even if the bag says not to.

I’ve set up two reefs using it and didn’t rinse anything. Just put a dinner plate on the sand to deflect the water as you’re filling it.

 

[gfox]

you should tap rinse it for about one hour in buckets until it flows so clean you can drink from it

final rinse in ro

set all the stuff back on totally snowglobe cleaned sand, no this doesn't harm bac your rocks have all bac needed and moving live rocks does not cause a recycle. you are about to do what macna tank entrants have done for 30 years without fail. none of them move cloudy reefs for a reason.

flow we literally just hogtied that cycle before it could even begin, as if it were a meaty hog going to roast. done dealio.

When you say tap rinse.Do you let water flow in the bucket for an hour before it is clear?

 

[brandon429]

What we do in our sand prep thread is rinse it in sections till a few pounds runs clear, can be dropped like snowglobe grains falling down no silt

Final rinse ro water to evacuate the tap used, set aside for next lump.

Rinsing sections in buckets a few pounds at a time was the best way, fill swirl dump over and over

That they sell the sand bag marked no rinse needed is clearly an abomination/ revealed in first rinse section heh

 

[shorton]

Thank yall for the advice! After pulling the sand out, I found dead snails and other stuff in it. It was easier for me to just replace the sand lol

 

[brandon429]

Post pic of new tank curious about water clarity