Reusing sand with tank swap

[Cigarman]

I have a biocube 32 that is only 2 months old. I now realize it was a mistake. Swapping over to a Redsea AIO Max E260. Can I transfer sand since it will only be 3 months old?

 

[Idoc]

Yes...you can transfer it easily. If you are too concerned, you can always rinse the sand...but that shouldn't be an issue for you.

 

[Reef.]

Yes, good time to give it a good clean too, I would give a rinse in old tank water, if you plan on doing a full cycle again for the new tank you can use tap water and a final rinse in rodi water.

 

[brandon429]

it wont cycle again even if you rinse in tap. update that advice Reef/accuracy/fifty pages here below is enough proof.

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Reef.]

it wont cycle again even if you rinse in tap. update that advice Reef/accuracy/fifty pages here below is enough proof.

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...

www.reef2reef.com

I used tap for my sand in a new build but feel if the OP is using this sand for a new tank without a new cycle, using cold tap water would affect the bacteria negatively,to what extent I don't know, I would not think it would kill all the bacteria but it must affect it to some degree, if using tank water is an option I can't see why that wouldn't be a good option... just what I would do.

 

[ApoIsland]

I have a biocube 32 that is only 2 months old. I now realize it was a mistake. Swapping over to a Redsea AIO Max E260. Can I transfer sand since it will only be 3 months old?

If the only thing you have in that tank is sand then I would just bring the sand over and keep the small amount of micro organisms and bacteria that exists alive while giving it a good rinse in old tank water.

If you have had rock in there that is already populated with bacteria then I would take no chance in a nutrient spike and rinse the sand in tap water real good before transferring. Everything that was alive in the sand will be on the rocks that were in the sand and will repopulate the rinsed sand in short time.

I believe there is very minimal beneficial nitrifying bacteria in the sand so you don't have to worry about a reduction doing any harm. Every time I move my 120 I let the sand sit for days sometimes weeks before I find the energy to clean it real good and add back to the tank. Fish and corals have never been affected by removing all the sand. Probably not an issue for your 2 month old tank, but plenty of threads on here though of reefers crashing their tanks by disturbing the sand beds and releasing too much trapped waste. Better safe than sorry.

 

[Cigarman]

If the only thing you have in that tank is sand then I would just bring the sand over and keep the small amount of micro organisms and bacteria that exists alive while giving it a good rinse in old tank water.

If you have had rock in there that is already populated with bacteria then I would take no chance in a nutrient spike and rinse the sand in tap water real good before transferring. Everything that was alive in the sand will be on the rocks that were in the sand and will repopulate the rinsed sand in short time.

I believe there is very minimal beneficial nitrifying bacteria in the sand so you don't have to worry about a reduction doing any harm. Every time I move my 120 I let the sand sit for days sometimes weeks before I find the energy to clean it real good and add back to the tank. Fish and corals have never been affected by removing all the sand. Probably not an issue for your 2 month old tank, but plenty of threads on here though of reefers crashing their tanks by disturbing the sand beds and releasing too much trapped waste. Better safe than sorry.

Yes I think I’ll just go with new sand. Old system is 2 month old (hopefully cured by now dry rock) which I’m transferring to new tank. I also plan on buying some additional live rock to add to bigger tank. My biggest concern is that new tank is going in same spot as old tank. So I’ll have put fish and corals somewhere while i put together new tank. Hopefully a couple of buckets with old water and heaters will do. I know it will be overnight while new tank settles. I plan on transferring most of water also, so it will be like doing a 50% water change. I will add some additional Dr. Tims.

 

[brandon429]

I used to legit think sandbeds handled about 40% of the bioload when present, the rocks still the majority

but Taricha‘s studies on sandbed nitrification alone put the likelihood at 0%-1% contribution lol, no wonder we have been getting away removals and rinses above / turns out the sand isn’t helping much in filtration although it’s a legit zone for selected life forms no doubt there. The shockingly low degree of nitrification in reefing in a common sandbed found by Taricha in the chem forum is astounding.

If someone wants to preserve the bac for whatever reason agreed Reef. rinsing kills them off. Dan P on yet another thread was able to use bottle bac to activate a sample of sand in tank water, separately prove the sand was active/ able to reduce test ammonia, and then after a tap rinse it couldn’t.


this whole time we’ve just been hammering the bac and not caring/ live rocks handle all needs but recent updates show we hadn’t risked much, sb is low in nitrification anyway.


don’t use Dr Tims, trust the fifty page thread above we don’t use it there because we are keeping transfer science pure and dependent on nobody other than our own prep adherence.

using Dr Tims is exactly like buying a $6500 trek mountain bike and then using training wheels. Do some trials with us the right way. Dont pay anyone money just rinse the new sand exactly as we did with the old, no different, move over live rocks swish cleaned in saltwater, and it’ll skip cycle fine because there’s no cloud.

we posted ten examples on page one of those who didn’t rinse new sand, the one that clouded for ten days straight stands out.

rinse even new sand exactly the same as old sand.

I didn’t think two months old sand has a large risk. The advice to rinse it is because what’s in a nano sandbed is liability, not positivity, so removing it is good at any phase. New sand has white silt that can relocate for days, why move that portion over


get it out, everyone appreciates a cloudless bright new skip cycle reef, that’s why we are rinsing.

 

[Cigarman]

I used to legit think sandbeds handled about 40% of the bioload when present, the rocks still the majority

but Taricha‘s studies on sandbed nitrification alone put the likelihood at 0%-1% contribution lol, no wonder we have been getting away removals and rinses above / turns out the sand isn’t helping much in filtration although it’s a legit zone for selected life forms no doubt there. The shockingly low degree of nitrification in reefing in a common sandbed found by Taricha in the chem forum is astounding.

If someone wants to preserve the bac for whatever reason agreed Reef. rinsing kills them off. Dan P on yet another thread was able to use bottle bac to activate a sample of sand in tank water, separately prove the sand was active/ able to reduce test ammonia, and then after a tap rinse it couldn’t.


this whole time we’ve just been hammering the bac and not caring/ live rocks handle all needs but recent updates show we hadn’t risked much, sb is low in nitrification anyway.


don’t use Dr Tims, trust the fifty page thread above we don’t use it there because we are keeping transfer science pure and dependent on nobody other than our own prep adherence.

using Dr Tims is exactly like buying a $6500 trek mountain bike and then using training wheels. Do some trials with us the right way. Dont pay anyone money just rinse the new sand exactly as we did with the old, no different, move over live rocks swish cleaned in saltwater, and it’ll skip cycle fine because there’s no cloud.

we posted ten examples on page one of those who didn’t rinse new sand, the one that clouded for ten days straight stands out.

rinse even new sand exactly the same as old sand.

I didn’t think two months old sand has a large risk. The advice to rinse it is because what’s in a nano sandbed is liability, not positivity, so removing it is good at any phase. New sand has white silt that can relocate for days, why move that portion over


get it out, everyone appreciates a cloudless bright new skip cycle reef, that’s why we are rinsing.

Ok but I’m going to have to add additional new sand. I was planning on using Caribsea live sand with no rinse since there are bacteria in the bag. So I’m probably gonna get the cloudies anyway. Old tank originally cleared overnight with 30lbs of live sand. So I was thinking of just adding all new sand so I don’t have to spend additional time cleaning sand which more time for livestock being in a bucket. That’s the part that‘s got me nervous.

 

[brandon429]

You're selecting a plan that has no work thread for pre screening, I'd be concerned about that moreso. it'll work out ok this time/ new tank but becomes considerable risk as it ages. if sandbed work was as easy we'd have ten threads to reference on tank moves.

 

[Cigarman]

You're selecting a plan that has no work thread for pre screening, I'd be concerned about that moreso.

What does that mean? I‘m new to reefing and I’m just trying to get the info I need to make the changeover stress free for both me and the livestock.

 

[Cigarman]

What does that mean? I‘m new to reefing and I’m just trying to get the info I need to make the changeover stress free for both me and the livestock.

Ok so I just read the thread from mnfish1 and money00 from a couple of months ago. I will rinse old sand and new sand which will prevent cloudies. Will use your system for water, rocks/corals and fish. Seems like a plan

 

[ApoIsland]

My biggest concern is that new tank is going in same spot as old tank. So I’ll have put fish and corals somewhere while i put together new tank. Hopefully a couple of buckets with old water and heaters will do.

Yes the corals and fish will be fine in buckets with only a heater and airstone for oxygen for many days. Most corals don't even need water as long as you keep them damp.

 

[Cigarman]

Yes the corals and fish will be fine in buckets with only a heater and airstone for oxygen for many days. Most corals don't even need water as long as you keep them damp.

Not planning on airstone. I have 2 koralia 425 circ pumps i won’t be using in new tank planning on putting 1 in each of buckets for fish and coral

 

[ApoIsland]

I used to legit think sandbeds handled about 40% of the bioload when present, the rocks still the majority

but Taricha‘s studies on sandbed nitrification alone put the likelihood at 0%-1% contribution lol, no wonder we have been getting away removals and rinses above / turns out the sand isn’t helping much in filtration although it’s a legit zone for selected life forms no doubt there. The shockingly low degree of nitrification in reefing in a common sandbed found by Taricha in the chem forum is astounding.

This is very interesting. I figured it was low but had no idea how low. I will still always have a sand bed because I like the look but this is evidence they are probably more of a liability and a detriment to most tanks than they are a benefit.

I did a google search for "Taricha's study on sandbed" but found no results. Do you have a link or something I can read?

 

[ApoIsland]

Not planning on airstone. I have 2 koralia 425 circ pumps i won’t be using in new tank planning on putting 1 in each of buckets for fish and coral

This works fine. People here say surface agitation does not supply a good amount of oxygen exchange but I have found it to be fine in every case for me. I even ran a 55g tank for a couple years packed with corals with nothing but one power head pointed at the surface. No sump or skimmer or any other means for oxygenation.

 

[brandon429]

Does my decade old sand bed actually nitrify? Who eats Ammonia in our tanks?

@Nano sapiens thanks for this. This is very much the idea of the thread. Some tanks may have a lot of nitrification (how much is a lot? 50% Of ammonia nitrified? ), according to my measurements, some may have very little ( < 10% of ammonia uptake rate in mine is nitrification) To be clear...

www.reef2reef.com

Taricha, Dan P, Flampton, Aquabiomics they always do such great lab work. Great scientists imo.

 

[Spare time]

I used to legit think sandbeds handled about 40% of the bioload when present, the rocks still the majority

but Taricha‘s studies on sandbed nitrification alone put the likelihood at 0%-1% contribution lol, no wonder we have been getting away removals and rinses above / turns out the sand isn’t helping much in filtration although it’s a legit zone for selected life forms no doubt there. The shockingly low degree of nitrification in reefing in a common sandbed found by Taricha in the chem forum is astounding.

If someone wants to preserve the bac for whatever reason agreed Reef. rinsing kills them off. Dan P on yet another thread was able to use bottle bac to activate a sample of sand in tank water, separately prove the sand was active/ able to reduce test ammonia, and then after a tap rinse it couldn’t.


this whole time we’ve just been hammering the bac and not caring/ live rocks handle all needs but recent updates show we hadn’t risked much, sb is low in nitrification anyway.


don’t use Dr Tims, trust the fifty page thread above we don’t use it there because we are keeping transfer science pure and dependent on nobody other than our own prep adherence.

using Dr Tims is exactly like buying a $6500 trek mountain bike and then using training wheels. Do some trials with us the right way. Dont pay anyone money just rinse the new sand exactly as we did with the old, no different, move over live rocks swish cleaned in saltwater, and it’ll skip cycle fine because there’s no cloud.

we posted ten examples on page one of those who didn’t rinse new sand, the one that clouded for ten days straight stands out.

rinse even new sand exactly the same as old sand.

I didn’t think two months old sand has a large risk. The advice to rinse it is because what’s in a nano sandbed is liability, not positivity, so removing it is good at any phase. New sand has white silt that can relocate for days, why move that portion over


get it out, everyone appreciates a cloudless bright new skip cycle reef, that’s why we are rinsing.

Taricha needs statistical analysis on that. No statistical analysis makes a study unreliable. (lack of stats is a big issue in this hobby imo). I caution against depending too much on hobbyist "studies"