Upsizing tanks

[salt h2o guy]

I'm upgrading my 56 gallon to a 90 and was wondering what the correct procedure was to transfer my 3" deep sand bed to my new tank (or is this even possible).
My current 56 is about 7 months old with perfect parameters, lots of softies and several lps, some fish too.
I'm currently running a canister filter and will have a 30 gallon sump to go with the new 90.
I'm sure there's a good amount of nutrients built up in the sand bed of the 56 and I plan to keep both tanks up until I can transfer everything out of the 56 to the 90 and I'm in no rush to do this.
Please let me know the best way to move my expensive live sand into my new tank.
Thanks in advance.

 

[pezenfuego]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Salt H2O guy http:///t/393616/upsizing-tanks#post_3502344
I'm upgrading my 56 gallon to a 90 and was wondering what the correct procedure was to transfer my 3" deep sand bed to my new tank (or is this even possible).
My current 56 is about 7 months old with perfect parameters, lots of softies and several lps, some fish too.
I'm currently running a canister filter and will have a 30 gallon sump to go with the new 90.
I'm sure there's a good amount of nutrients built up in the sand bed of the 56 and I plan to keep both tanks up until I can transfer everything out of the 56 to the 90 and I'm in no rush to do this.
Please let me know the best way to move my expensive live sand into my new tank.
Thanks in advance.
I am sorry to say it, but I've heard many a horror story and have yet to hear a success story of moving a DSB. You will kill all the anaerobic bacteria and my understanding is that no amount of rinsing will prevent the tank from having astronomical phosphate problems. I sincerely hope another hobbyist has a good suggestion and a success story for you.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Won't be live sand by the time I get done with it...
Take a clean, new, unwashed white pillow case and put a fair amount of sand in it... then run the water hose into the bag and rinse it all out really, really well. Lay the sand out on a tarp - or even in a bucket that gets plenty of sun.
Wash, rinse, dry, repeat.
Of course, it's better to have course grade sand than oolite, in any case.

 

[snakeblitz33]

By the way, you can add your sand to your new tank a cup or two at a time until it has as much sand as you want - even with the corals and fish in the new tank.
Heck, I'll be switching out my sandbed in the next month or two for some course grade sand. My oolite is blowing around everywhere! Really annoying.

 

[salt h2o guy]

Thanks guys.