Moving a dsb.

[teetee]

I plan on upgrading my 135g to a 200g. I currently have a 5" sand bed. The sand bed was established about 1.5 yrs ago. Any suggestions on moving my existing sand bed to the 200g. I have read that the top 2" of sand should be separated while the bottom 3" should be placed in and the bottom layer in the new tank, and then topped off with the remaing 2" of top sand. Sound right? Thanks for all imput. tt.

 

[cboyfan2020]

that sounds right. I would be really, really careful in moving that bottom 3" and adding water to the entire sandbed after it is in place. If possible I would fill tank up half way and make sure there wasn't any high ammonia/nitrite before re introdicing my Livestock. I have found that if you put the sand in and then lay a trash bag over the sand and pour the water on top of the trash bag as it floats up it greatly reduces the cloudiness and would probably limit any bad things from the bottom of your DSB from getting into the water column.. Just my .02

 

[katara]

I moved 40+ lbs of pre-established ls. into my tank full of corals and a mandarin + a couple of clowns and lots of corals & my clean up crew.I added it on top of my 2" ls base at the time.I added it by putting a couple of lbs. into a plastic bag,lowering it to the bottom & cutting a slit in the bag slowly releasing the new sand.While my tank was cloudy for about 1 day, everyting turned out fine.
Ps: I also turned off the ph & filter for a couple of hours.
Good luck

 

[teetee]

Thank you for the responses. The possibility of an ammonia/nitrite spike is what worries me. Anyone esle out there with dsb transference experience?

 

[wrassecal]

I just move my dsb from a 20 and a 55 into a 135 about a week and a half ago. If there is hydrogen sulfide you are going to smell it an it's that really bad rotten egg smell. After skimming off the top inch or 2 of live sand and setting it aside, I expected stinky sand from the 55 and didn't get it. I did get it from the sand in the 20 so I didn't use the bottom portion of that sand, thought it was safer to get rid of it. I had my 135 full of saltwater that had been sitting for about a week with powerheads. I had a big rubbermaid tub, half a dozen instant ocean buckets and a bunch of baggies. We took all the lr out, put it in the tub with a powerhead and saltwater from the new tank, then baggied all the livestock seperately and foated them in the new tank. Then we took more water out of the new tank and siphoned in the water from the 55. Put all the sand back in, live sand on top, made a cloudy mess, put the live rock back in, then the livestock. Once we started we were finished within 2 hours. We have not had a spike and didn't lose anything. I think that is because we did everything really fast and acclimated our livestock like it was new. Also, we didn't use any questionable sand. Since it wouldn't make a 5 inch dsb in the 135 we have it going from 3 - 5 inches in places and will slowly add more live sand. HTH

 

[wrassecal]

Here is our new tank. Good luck with yours and keep us posted.

 

[teetee]

Thank you Wrassecal for your help. I will monitor the smell of the sand as I remove it. I might simply reuse the top 2" of sand and use new coral sand for the bottom two inches (I plan on making a 4" bed). I am researching on the upgrade now and do not plan the move until about six weeks.