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question about sand.

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Reefboy4life View Drop Down
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    Posted: December 10 2010 at 9:57am
I am taking down my 55 gallon and upgrading to a 90, anyways my question is should i clean the sand before i put it in my 90?
90 gallon mixed reef
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MadReefer View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MadReefer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 10 2010 at 10:53am
There are different opinions for this question. Some will say you can't use it ever again. Some will say clean and reuse. Some will say just move it to the new tank.
I like to rinse it with the old salt water at some point during the move and then use it. The goal is to get the junk out. Don't be afraid to waste a little sand to get the sand you keep as clean as you can. There will be some die off, but much of it will still be alive and quickly start helping out the new system.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Reefboy4life Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 10 2010 at 10:59am
Can i just rinse it with fresh water, last time i did a tank transfer i just put the sand from one tank to the next and everything did fine.
90 gallon mixed reef
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SGH360 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 10 2010 at 12:27pm
I did not rinse my sand when i upgraded then again it wasnt alot probably around 15lbs on a 75G just barely covering the bottom of the tank.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MadReefer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 10 2010 at 12:50pm
I would not rinse it at all before I would rinse it with fresh water. Unless is is really dirty, and then you want to do an extra good job of rinsing it. If you do rinse some of it with fresh water, treat it with de-chlor after rinsing and keep 10-25% live, non-rinsed sand to seed it all. JMO
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Crazy Tarzan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 10 2010 at 12:57pm
fresh water will kill off any remaining life on the sand.  I like the saltwater rinse idea, I plan on using it to help clean out my tank and re-set it.
Was that in there yesterday? Casper--WY windier than ?

Down to a 20, soon to double or nothing
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Mark Peterson View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mark Peterson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 10 2010 at 5:29pm
This is definitely a good thing to check out. The reason there are different answers is because the best answer depends on a few variables.
Have you read some of the recent threads about people having problems when moving or when upgrading?
Have you read the thread about moving a tank in the Reefkeeping Tips below?
Knowing how long the 55 has been running, what the LS is like and how the sand and the entire tank looks will help us give the best answer. Can you give us that background and post some pics?


Edited by Mark Peterson - December 10 2010 at 5:30pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mark Peterson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 10 2010 at 5:35pm
Oh and a comment about rinsing a portion of the LS. It is much simpler and easier to rinse it thoroughly with tap water and immediately immerse it back into some LW. There is no need for dechlorination.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MadReefer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 10 2010 at 5:54pm
Originally posted by Mark Peterson Mark Peterson wrote:

Oh and a comment about rinsing a portion of the LS. It is much simpler and easier to rinse it thoroughly with tap water and immediately immerse it back into some LW. There is no need for dechlorination.
I never said there is a NEED to dechlor, but that it helps. It you disagree, give me one study that shows dechlor is bad for a reef tank. So far I have not seen one. And there are many studies that show chlorination IS bad for reef tanks.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mark Peterson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 10 2010 at 10:41pm
Well, it certainly could not hurt anything and, considering that de-chlorinating chemicals actually reduce ammonia, it could be a good thing to have on hand if die off in the disturbed sand causes an ammonia spike a day or two later. Personally, I prefer to light up a bunch of algae to eat up the ammonia/pollution, but have used de-chlorinating products to handle extreme ammonia situations.Smile

The reason I believe that de-chlorinator isn't necessary is that our tanks can handle a lot more chlorine than most hobbyists realize. In freshwater tanks I've done 30% water changes with straight tap water with no bad effects. In reef aquariums I've added 10% tap water and saw no bad effects. As usual, hobbyist paranoia was created by the companies that sell the products. Wink

Embarrassed One more thing to think about. The amount of tap water that would be left after rinsing and draining the LS is very negligible and if the rinsed LS is placed quickly back into LW the extra crud/detritus will be gone, opening up the spaces between sand particles. The bacteria that remained on and in the rinsed LS and survived can then quickly re-populate the sand bed.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MadReefer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 10 2010 at 11:08pm
True. It's probably not needed in this case. But I'll still use it.
It would be interesting to figure out what is happening when you add tap water. It probably killed something, but that something grew right back. Seeing as how it costs next to nothing and I rarely have to use it, I'll always have some when I need it.
I like Prime. I had a leak and lost 80% of the water out of a 60 gallon tank. I used tap water, Prime, and Oceanic salt to fill it up as fast as possible. I only lost the tips of a few corals that were out of the water for over three hours. That is a time when I would not want to run out of it.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mark Peterson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 10 2010 at 11:36pm
Agreed. Thumbs Up
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