Swapping sand from tank to tank

[Jay1982]

I'm changing aquariums over the weekend, going from a 90 to a 135. And I remember reading a few threads that mentioned what to do when moving your sand bed from aquarium to aquarium. My aquarium has been set up since April, is there anything special I need to know or avoid? Some parts of it is DSB, and at other parts its 2-3 inches

[sdtopgun]

as long as it's wet, ion see a problem

[SleepyJ]

I would move the living stuff out first just in case you accidentally release trapped nitrates.

[nikon187]

I wouldn't touch the sand. A DSB may have spots of anerobic bacteria that could crash a tank..New sand is the safest bet

[atblj5]

I set up my 125 this summer from a 55 that was a year and half old., used new sand and added half of the old, worked like a champ transfer with no problems.

[nikon187]

I wouldn't touch the sand. A DSB may have spots of anerobic bacteria that could crash a tank..New sand is the safest bet

[mg426]

I would be a bit scared myself. I am thinking I would get me some new sand.

[atblj5]

Very sorry, I did not say I did my change over a 4 week period added some old sand and old rock, but small amounts at a time. I kept the old tank running while I brought the new tank on line.

[xJake]

People tend to "freak out" when it comes to anything having to do with moving deep sand-beds, but if you do things correctly then there is nothing to worry about. As some of the users above have expressed, there is a good chance that you will disrupt an anaerobic pocket of the sand bed which has the potential to release toxic H2S gas - which is a natural by-product of denitrifying anaerobic bacteria.

In order to avoid causing any damage to your tank's inhabitants, I would recommend removing any and all animals from the tank before disturbing your sand bed for removal, cleaning, and subsequently placing the sand in your new tank.

It takes a bit of work to do right, and sometimes people would rather avoid this and spend the money on new sand. The beneficial effects of reusing the sand bed is that you keep the beneficial critters that have grown to inhabit your sand-bed, and you save a bit of money. I've done this several times before, and I will recommend what to do based on what I have done and what my experiences with this type of maintenance has been.

Here are some materials I would recommend:

3-5ft. length of flexible tubing that is 1"-2" in diameter - This allows you to simply siphon out the sand bed and then strain or decant the water.

2-3 New, white cotton pillow-cases (wash these with bleach and cold water to remove any preservatives or manufacturing residues)

A sifting grate with a grate-size that is just large enough to let your sand though (depending on the size and type of sand)

2-3 5-gallon buckets (for moving the sand around)

Access to a garden hose or some type of utility water source that will allow you to comfortably work with the buckets, pillow-cases, and the sand itself.

Some type of plastic scraper or scoop that is small enough to comfortably fit and rotate inside the tank

I will list below the basic steps for how I would suggest going about this project:

1)As I said, remove any and all organisms (including live rock), that you do not want to be exposed to a toxic gas which could potentially cause massive, and instantaneous death. You should remove all of the rock anyway just to make room to work in the tank.

2)You should leave as much water in the tank as you can. Only remove as much water as you need to keep the organisms alive. Be sure to also remove any and all equipment from the display tank, and turn off your sump/return pump. I would suggest buying a cheap storage container (or several) to temporarily keep your fish in. You could then throw a powerhead, a couple pieces of live rock, and a heater in it to keep everything alive and comfortable.

3)Begin by stirring up as much of the sand bed as you can. Use the plastic scraper or scoop for this. Break up any large chunks of sand, and vigorously stir up any anaerobic pockets you find (usually occur where you sand bed is the deepest or the least disturbed -such as under a rock). You may find some large chain-like structures of feather dusters and other tube worms; these are extremely beneficial detrivores and should be saved (undamaged if possible) at all costs - throw them in a container with the live rock if nothing else.

4)Use the scraper/scoop to pile the entire sand bed onto one side of the tank. Make this pile as high as possible as this will make the removal much, much easier.

5)Setup the large-diameter flex-tubing to begin siphoning out the sand bed. When beginning to do this you should make sure that you can get the end of the tube as close as possible to the sand without touching it (otherwise the sand may prevent you from starting a siphon). Secure the tubing to the side of the tank with some type of clip or simply set a something heavy on it to keep it from falling out of the tank when you begin the siphon.

6)Setup one of the 5-gallon buckets you have with the other end of the hose securely placed inside. Start the siphon by sucking on the end of the tube that is out of the tank, and quickly place this in the bucket. Put your shirt or another cloth over the end of the tube so that if you do happen to get a mouthful of water it doesn't include a mouthful of sand as well.

7)Immediately after starting the siphon you should push the tubing as far down into the sand bed as possible. Then simply siphon out as much sand as you can (and as little water as possible) until the bucket is full. When the water level in the bucket reaches about 2" below the top edge you should stop as the tubing will still drain a bit more water out.

8)After you have filled the bucket you should then decant the water back into the tank. To do this without having to lift the [very heavy] sand, you should first decant the water into another 5-gallon bucket and then pour that back into the tank. Try to decant away any detritus that may have become free-floating when you disturbed the sand-bed. Then simply pour the sand into yet another bucket for temporary storage (you can drain the residual saltwater out of it using one of the pillow cases if you like, but it's not necessary).

9)Keep repeating this process until all of the sand has been removed from the display tank making sure to decant as much water back into the tank as possible (so that you can keep restarting the siphon successfully without issue).

10)Then, after removing the sand from the tank, you should pass it through your sifting-grate to help remove any beneficial organisms that may have taken up your sand-bed as their home. Again, these critters should be kept alive at all costs. Toss these in with your live rock making sure to keep them wet so that they don't perish. While sifting you may come across some very large bristle worms. You can remove these worms if you'd like, but I prefer to keep them as they tend to be very adept detrivores. You may also come across different pest organisms such as Eunicid worms (they look like very large bristle worms with a distinctive "head" and 4-6 antennae), or aiptasia. These should be removed to the best of your ability and discarded. Basically you should sift through your sand bed as well as possible to remove as many beneficial and pest organisms as possible. Also remove any rocks/shells and keep or discard at your discretion.

11)After sifting, you should then rinse small batches of sand in the pillow cases (just enough to fill the pillow case about 1/4 of the way). To do this you should fill the pillow case as described with sand. Then simply use a garden hose or utility faucet to rinse any detrital matter from the sand. The pillow case allows water and detrital matter to be rinsed through but keeps the sand inside. You should use rather high pressure water to help break up any larger chunks of detritus and force them out of the pillow case - this also helps to actually clean the sand instead of simply allowing the detritus to settle within the sand in the pillow-case. Also, be sure to sort of "toss" the sand within the pillow-case to prevent this same settling of detritus.

12)Thoroughly rinse the sand until the water runs clear. Then squeeze/drain as much water out of the sand as possible and flip the sand out of the pillow-case into a clean 5-gallon bucket (again, for temporary storage). Repeat this until all of the sand has been cleaned.

13)Then, after you have rinsed all of the sand and removed as much of the tap water as possible, you should either rinse the sand with RO water (kind of expensive) or simply use the old tank water - making sure to remove any detritus from this water first. You can then either let the sand dry out (sit in the sun, or something similar), or add it directly to your new tank.

14)After placing the sand bed in your new tank you should then add the organisms you removed during the process. You can either add your live rock first (as many people prefer to do) or afterward, but it's truly your preference.

You should be able to continue from here after this point. Here are a few items you should keep in mind while doing this:

1)If you don't first remove as many organisms from the sand bed as possible during sifting then they will most likely perish during washing/rinsing. This will cause you tank to be fouled with decaying organic matter, and should be avoided if possible.

2)If, in the process of doing this, you discover that your sand is especially dirty then you may want to consider either simply sifting out the critters and placing them in a new sand sand-bed to achieve similar results or simply replacing the sand-bed all-together without the critters.

3)You should do your best to remove as much of the detritus and sediment as possible. If you leave this detritus mixed within the sand then it will quickly begin aerobic respiration when placed in the new tank and will subsequently decay (potentially causing an ammonia spike and mini-cycle).

4)You may want to take this time to rinse your live rock with saltwater to dislodge any detritus that may have accumulated. You may also want to scrub/clean-off any algae or other pest populations that you may have been unable to access when the rock was in-place.

5)After doing this cleaning, no matter how well you clean it, there may be a mini-cycle. If you have kept your live rock wet during the process then it should resolve itself quickly, but it could still be an issue.

So, yeah, it can be a lot of work, but I think that preserving these populations of micro-organisms is important to your tank's maturity and overall health. It seems so much easier to just replace the sand, but I think you'll find that your tank will reach its previous maturity level much more quickly. If you keep performing this process with your sand bed every time you move it, then your tanks will become more and more successful with each upgrade.

Obviously this is all just opinion, but from my experience, these sand-dwelling organisms are a vital part of the captive marine ecosystem.

[dgoth]

Wow, that's a great write-up. Seems like a good strategy!

thanks for the details!

[xJake]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14011462#post14011462 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dgoth
Wow, that's a great write-up. Seems like a good strategy!

thanks for the details!

No problem. I wrote it up a few months ago for a friend, and, luckily, I archived it on my g-mail account. So, I just copied and pasted most of it from that.

[Jay1982]

Wow, thanks a bunch!!!. I didn't know I would have had to wash the sand bed, makes sense now though. What would happen if someone didn't wash the sand bed though, a cycle due to the wastes that have been exposed?

[xJake]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14012267#post14012267 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Jay1982
Wow, thanks a bunch!!!. I didn't know I would have had to wash the sand bed, makes sense now though. What would happen if someone didn't wash the sand bed though, a cycle due to the wastes that have been exposed?

The anaerobic bacteria populations would die due to oxygen poisoning and would probably cause a cycle. I suppose you don't have to wash the sand, but it makes sense to me as detritus builds-up over time and you should do what you can, when you can to help eliminate it. Also you would basically be dumping a cesspool of previously trapped organic matter into your new aquarium - something I try to avoid.

[SoLiD]

You are awesome Jake. Can I save your write up to my Personal Computer for later use?

-David

[xJake]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14012863#post14012863 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SoLiD
You are awesome Jake. Can I save your write up to my Personal Computer for later use?

-David

Go ahead. No need to ask. If I post original material on here then I'm guessing that it's probably considered to be public domain under the TOU and according to federal law.