Live Sand Move

[jawwad2004]

Hey guys, I want to know if I can use all the live sand in my 55 in my new 90? I am gettin the 90 setup in about a week, and plan to install it in about 3 weeks. Ive heard that pe0ple usually take about an inch of sand off the surface and just add new sand. I just added new sand about a month ago and dont want to buy more sand.

 

[pecan2phat]

If you had a shallow sand bed in your 55g and the sand was either not in the tank for years and years or if you occasionally stirred the entire shallow bed, I don't see why you could not use all of it.

 

[jhale]

why would you want to use sand :sgrin:

go bare bottom.

 

[Missy Johnson]

so you can get a cute little goby.

 

[Reefer420]

How deep is the bed now? I've read that a DSB will not be able to be moved to a new tank, as any agitation can release a ton of gas/noxious waste that has been sitting on the bottom. Not sure about just taking the top layer though, I can't think of a reason why that would be a problem. Shallow sand bed an 1" or so should be fine though I would think.

Speaking of bare-bottom tanks, have you ever seem a tank that just has GSP, zoos, etc. growing on the tank bottom like 'grass'? Read a post on nano-reef a while back and it sounded pretty interesting- probably the only way I would ever go bare-bottom. You couldn't see the tank bottom at all!

 

[jawwad2004]

I highly doubt that I would ever go bare bottom. I am going to utilize a DSB in this tank with many critters giving it a good turnover rate. The back portion wont have any sand at all or mayb just a little bit and keep a moderate siized powerhead to keep the water moving in that area. So I can use all this sand or need to throw away and replace it?

 

[Reefer420]

I would say as long as the sand isn't really exposed to air for any length of time, and doesn't come from a current DSB you should be fine - I mean, how did you get your LS in your tank now? Mine just came shipped in a bag of water from TBS- spread it all out and everything was fine- tons of little critters came out within mins!

 

[cali_reef]

You can use your old sand if you are not moving any other live stock into the tank for a few days. Stirring up the sand will cause a NO2 and NO3 spike, like a cycling effect. A good skimmer and some water changes will fix that up in a few days.

 

[jawwad2004]

I have about a 4" DSB. I guess I am going to use it in my girlfriends tank which is goin to go through a cycle anyways. Collection cup (bucket) open for sand. .. anyone?