Upgrading Tank, keep the sand?

[MaverickReef]

I am currently upgrading my 120 gallon reef to a 180 gallon reef. I plan on moving everything (all livestock, rock, coral and marinepure blocks for bacteria) but I'm hung up on moving the sand. I currently have a 1 inch sandbed that I vacuum about once a month. This new setup will be mainly LPS and softies, with maybe a few SPS in the future.

I prefer the look of the sandbed, but understand there are some downsides with keeping one. Should I move the old sandbed into the new tank? Should I put new sand in the tank? Or should I go bare bottom?

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks!

 

[blaxsun]

If you're going to keep the old sand, it needs several cycles of rinse/sift/rinse/dry.

 

[flashsmith]

That's alot of work. Just get new sand. I just tore down a 25 gallon frag with a thin sand bed. Only been up for 3 months and looked pristine but it was nasty smelling.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Get one of these big box store bins and rinse, rinse, rinse. (This was new sand, but the same panning-for-gold motion would work to clean old sand.) The channels are what make the rocking-motion do the rinsing. For new sand, keep on rinsing until the water no longer runs white.

 

[alec b]

I would do new sand just easier overall.