Restarting old reef.

[joerdie]

Hello all. My current cube has been up for about a year now and the coral is getting to big for its home. I am another year away from building a large tank (an upgrade from my old 150 to a 300) and am in the beginning stages of setting up an older one.
This cube was taken down about two years ago and has been siting in my basement ever since. I have two questions. The old cube used two PL-24W 10,000k's. Each one has and actinic and a day tube. I normally replace my bulbs once a year but since these have been sitting off for most of their lives, would they still be usable?
My second question has to do with sand. I still have the arragonite (sp?) that was in use when the tank was taken down. Could I clean this sand, seed it with live sand from my current tank, and use it again?
Thanks all!

 

[joerdie]

Bump.
Well, I have bought new light bulbs.
Still don't know what to do about the sand. Tomorrow, I will add it and throw the shrimp in to start the cycle.

 

[loopy101]

i would rince the sand out really good and use it. shouldnt be any problems with it unless some chemicals or something like that got into it while in storage?

 

[joerdie]

it should be clean. It was sitting in a rubbermaid bin. Thanks for the thumbs up. I may be adding the sand tonight. I am still waiting for an accurate SG reading (temp issues)