Move sand to new tank PLEASE QUICK

[Arizonagrace]

I need to do this tomorrow.

I have 2 clowns that I am moving from a 12 gallon eclipse to a 15 gallon long acrylic tank. This will give them more room. I may even go with the 20 gallon glass, but that is not as long. I am not fond of glass tanks lol. I also have a 12 gallon aquapod that now has just a watchman goby. Going to move the goby to a 24 gallon with a pajama cardinal and cleaner shrimp. He will be happy there.

My question is:

How do I move the sand from the 2 tanks into the new tank. I am so confused. I will be able to use all the liverock from both tanks in the new one, and plan on moving crabs and stuff over too. I only have about 3 hours to do this, as that is the only time I will have a helper.

Do I just scoop all the sand and move it to new tank, let it settle then add liverock, etc? I know the sand will be dirty. I really don't want to knowingly kill off anything living in the sand. Is just moving it the best way? Or is there toxic stuff in the sand that is best left alone?

I plan on moving all liverock over (less some decorations that have been in there that aren't liverock). And I will have to use a new filter for them, as the eclipse has a different set up for filters. I thought I would put in a powerhead, and put in the old sponge and bioballs from 12 aquapod in to keep the tank from cycling, then slowly taking them out at a rate of one a month or so. I can even hide some of the bio balls or a sponge behind rock.

Please help. I am so confused. I really don't want to keep the 12 aqua running as it is harder to maintain, and sits in middle of the room.

The only other option would be to tear down the 12 aqua, move it to other side of the room, put in clowns, and get rid of 12 eclipse. But I don't have room anywhere else for the all the liverock. Putting all of that rock in the 12 aqua will seriously drop the actual water volume. Even splitting it between 12 and 24 aquas would be less water.

Ugh :spin2:

[Mr Cob]

How deep is the current sand bed? You will surely send the old and new tank into a cycle if you disturb an undisturbed sand bed of an inch or more.

I would personally go bare bottom in the new tank and slowly add new sand each week...maybe a cup full weekly to prevent any major cycles.

In any event I would get your new tank up and running and stable before adding anything to it...even if you are using contents such as liverock from your existing tanks. If that is not an option then it's treated just like a same day tank move which I HATE and would never reuse sand until it's been washed thoroughly and if livestock goes in the same day then I would slowly add the sand back over a long period of time.

[Arizonagrace]

The 12 aquapod is about 2 inches (3.5 years) and the eclipse is about 1.5 or less (4 years) This has to be done tomorrow within a 3 hour time span. I will not have help to do this for at least 6 months.

I could go bare bottom. I just thought that sand was required for salt tanks and never considered it. I have never done a saltwater change to new tank.

[Mr Cob]

k, those are both shallow sand beds (SSB).

So, have they been stirred regularly? DO you see pockets of brown or black in them? If you do then those pockets represent bad stuff that the sandbed has stored and not filtered (not sure on the terminology here), but that discolored stuff will release toxins and possibly send your tank into a cycle. Especially since we are talking about mall water volumes.

Play it safe and do not disturb the sand.

[Mr Cob]

my 85g is bare bottom...well actually it is bare bottom and foam bottom...lol, no sand. I run a DSB (deep sand bed) in the refugium though. But.. a lot of reefers do not have any sand in their entire system.

[Arizonagrace]

So new sand is the best? Gee I hate to lose all those cool things inside that sand. But I can certainly add all new sand.
I have moved some rocks recently and got all kinds of stuff that came up from sand, so I imagine it is loaded with crap. Probably not much living in there anyway.

Should I put some (a cup or so) of old sand in with new tank?
Do you know if I will get a cycle if I just move everything, and have new sand?
I could set up new tank, put in new sand, add all but sand from aqua over and let it settle a few days. I can manage moving the rock and fish from eclipse over myself once the tank is actually set up and leveled. Would this be better?

Thanks so much. I know I have alot of questions, but want to treat these guys properly.

[Mr Cob]

There is rarely much good stuff in a shallow sand bed, it's only real purpose when it's 2" or less is aesthetics. 4" plus is the target to get a benefitical sand bed and 3" is a no fly zone.

Even moving your rock can cause a cycle in that small of a tank which is why it's important to turkey baster or point a powerhead at the rock to keep detritus from settling too long.

Hopefully some others will chime in to give you some other perspectives too.

[Arizonagrace]

If I go bare bottom, will I see a bunch of junk on the bottom once they are settled? I hate junk on bottom of tanks.
Thanks so much. If you think of anything else, please let me know. I am horrible at decisions.
I guess I can just toss old out in garbage tomorrow?
Now I am so excited. Once I figure bare or sand I will be all set to go

[Mr Cob]

Start bare and slowly add sand back like I suggested, I just wouldn't move your current sand bed from one tank to the next without cleaning it first.

[Arizonagrace]

Here it is. Took us from 9 to 6 to get everything done, including tearing down other 2 tanks and cleaning those. A lot of that time was used to make sure there were no crabs or snails in the sand. We were glad we did after finding several, including baby snails :)

Still have some minor cleaning in room to get done, but I LOVE IT. The no sand bed is a hit with me.

Don't know how to insert a picture, otherwise I would send one