I was reading your post today and wanted to say CONGRATS on clearing up the tank. I know it was not fun. So, i have a question for you... what kind of brand/kind of sand did you add to your tank?
I also read in your post that you may be moving soon and wanted to offer what advice i could. Not that i'm an expert by any means... but I started a tank back in november and since then have purchased two smaller tanks off craigslist and incorporated them into my tank. And just this week, had a biocube i was using as my sump to start leaking and had to move my sump to a 30g rectangular tank.
As far as moving the sand from one tank to the other... I use a plastic throw away cup. I really hate the idea of throwing away "live" sand. So i scoop out a cup full and when moving it to a different tank, move the cup down as low as possible to pour it out... to keep as much of the "clouds" from forming. Every time I've done this though, i wind up with an ammonia spike... I throw on a hang on back filter that sits around and I put in a sponge or filter floss to pick up large particles, then a carbon pouch and then an ammonia floss. Another thing to think about when stirring up sand, like everyone said... nitrates and phosphates are going to spike... which "I THINK"... not an expert here... may have been what caused the green algae bloom. To stop it before it starts (cuz we all like to keep our hands in the tank... best part of the hobby in my opinion)... keep some nitrate absorbing filter media and some phosphate absorbing media on hand to throw in that filter just in case. Something else I do when moving tanks around is to add seachems' "clarity" that first night... it bonds a lot of that floating junk together and then the floss in the filter picks it up. And then I dose seachems' "stability" for a week after moving ANYTHING... espically the sand! Stability is a bottle of good bacteria... they do wonders for a tank that is going through a mini cycle. At the end of the week, pull the extra filter, do a 20 to 30% water change.
Like i said, i'm no expert and i've only been keeping a "reef" tank since nov of 08 but i've done fish tanks since i was 13. And i originially started with a 30g. Then i bought a biocube off craigslist and used that as my sump. It was full of corals and I managed to tear it down, drive it an hour and a half and stay up til 5am the next morning setting it up as my sump and acclimating it's inhabitants to my tank. That was in february. In march, i picked up another biocube full of corals. Broke it down in one hour and had it set back up at my house in another hour. Then, i picked up a 55g tank and moved everything to my sump, pulled another all nighter to set up the new tank. And then this week, my biocube sump sprung a leak so i spend wednesday night moving my sump (water, sand, macro algaes, frags, hermits and snails, a peppermint shrimp and some porcelian crabs) to my old 30gal and makeshifting a filter to hold me til i get paid on friday.
Through all of it, i've lost one anemone, one toadstool and two peppermint shrimp.... all to an ammonia spike that first move. I break a tank down using 5g buckets with lids. Live rock first, fill bucket with tank water and put lids on. Corals and fish next... individual bags, placed in 5g buckets, filled with tank water, lids placed on. Any remaining water goes in 5g buckets with lids. If tank can be moved with sand in it, i leave it. If it can't, i use a plastic kids shovel to move it to a 5gal bucket also. And just enough water to keep it moist... there are beneficial critters in there that I'd rather not loose if possible. Break the rest of it down and move it as fast as possible... time is of the essence.... temperature is your top concern... fish and corals can usually survive in large bags with plenty of air for somewhere between 4-8 hours depending on how stressed they get... if you need to pull them out of bags (fish espically)... you've got the 5gal bucket with water in it... hook up a bubbler or a powerhead and throw in a heater and let them out. Of course... when putting tank back together... situate the tank, sand in first, a large piece of live rock to deter the water splatter and then the rest of your water. I like to arrange my rock in clear water so a lot of times, i just throw in all the rock and the rest of the water and leave the fish/corals overnight so i can run that hang on back filter to clear up the water. At this point... clarity for clear water, ammonia floss to save live rock critters and sponge or filter floss to pick up large particles... and then dose the stability... large dose first night to keep tank healthy. Keeping fish/corals in a separate tank overnight keeps them out of harms way of the initial spikes. Next day you should have a clear tank, arrange your rock, place your corals and let the fishies back in.
HOpe that helps.
