updating tank question

[spicy meatball]

hello fellow reefers,
I am moving my 75 gallon into a larger tank next month, my question is, being that I have almost 300lbs of live sand in there already between my tanks, would it be wiser to get new sand or take out that sand and dump it in the newer tank and reuse it since it has plenty of life in it. It has been up and running for almost a year and a half. My main concern is starting a hair algae problem and nitrate problem. any advice would be appreciated. thank you
Jim

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

Dump it. Reusing that much sand is a mess!

 

[jhale]

i think you can use sand from the first 1/2 of the old sand bed to seed the new sand bed.

 

[House of Laughter]

:shhh: what he ^^^^^^ said

House

 

[bad coffee]

If you really really want to use it, scoop off the top 1" or so and put that in your new tank.

Then scoop out the rest and put into a big tub. Fill the tub with water. (old tank water is okay, fresh RO water is okay) Then add a cup of bleach to it and stir it up. Wait a few days then do a water change. (stir up the sand and syphon out as much water as you can)

Rinse in fresh RO water and let it sit for a few more days.

Suck out the RO water and let the sand dry in the sun for a few days.

add it back to your tank a bit at a time.

That's what I did for my 10 gallon. . .

me, I'd just get new sand.

 

[spicy meatball]

I have the time to do it slowly and let it all settle to not make a mess, I'm just more concerned with a length of a year and a half of what has developed in the sand that may make a problem with the new tank as far as stirring it up. mainly hair algae from what I've heard, what a pain to battle and I've never had it in this tank(had it in others) and don't want to start now.
thanks for all the advice so far,
Jim

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

I have the time to do it slowly and let it all settle to not make a mess, I'm just more concerned with a length of a year and a half of what has developed in the sand that may make a problem with the new tank as far as stirring it up.

If you have patient and time then using the top 1 inch should be fine. It did not present me with a problem in my tank move over. However, if you stir the bottom portion up, even if you let it settle back slowly, it still can cause problem. So just be careful and with steady hand if you go that route(reusing the top one inch of sand to seed the new tank)