Reusing Sand?

[brenner_jeff]

I am moving soon and I currently have a well established 55G reef. I have purchased a new 75G tank. THe old tank has a 3" DSB, is it ok to just take out the old sand and reuse it with the new tank. Will it distburb chemicals or stir up nitrates? SHould I just trash it and get new sand? If I can reuse it is there any process I should do to make it more safe.

 

[fishman830]

its a good idea imo

 

[redawg]

what's a good idea? to use or not to use... guess u left that part out.. hehe
what i would do is use the sand.. put it in the tank first.. get some new live sand and put it on top of your old sand.. atleast a inch.. if u don't want to get any new sand you could dry your current sand out.. spread it out thinnly on a plastic tarp or something in your driveway.. but no telling what kinda junk u'd get in it

 

[kreach]

I would just reuse it as is. That's what we have done every time we have upgraded tanks... just scooped the sand out into a clean bucket then put it all into the new tank. That way, you keep all those beneficial bacteria living in your sand.
You might have a small cycle, but that's not unusual when you move or upgrade a tank.

 

[brenner_jeff]

cool, I just wanted to make sure I wouldnt unleash like 1000 PPM's of nitrate and cause some sort of aquatic apocalypse.

 

[fishman830]

sorry, i wasnt clear, its a good iidea to re use the sand