Transfer sandbed or not?

[Tazmaniancowboy]

I've seen a lot of people moving tanks, whether moving or upgrading. I was thinking about setting up a new tank in my new house and transfer my current tank right into it on closing day figuring it would be easier, but then I realised that I would have to disturb my current sandbed or buy new sand. What do you guys do with your sandbeds when moving or upgrading?

I have a few months before I move, but I am kicking around many ideas and I may ask for many opinions until then. I would like to start planning soon so I am ready for the move!

Taz

 

[RobSzar]

just upgrade from a 75 to 90 and a fellow reefer had 50# of nice clean white LS for sale so I bought it for $25 and used that instead of using mine.

 

[sinkingbeach]

I always ended up with issues after moving my sand bed, my last upgrade 3 weeks ago, I went bare bottom in the main display and threw my sand from the old tank in my refugium, so far nothing that arose in the past has shown itself :-X

 

[MikeNapoli]

I wouldn't ... not worth it.

Get new sand and see it with a cup or two of your old sand.

 

[CONSTANTNE]

Agree. I would just seed the new sand with your old established sand IMO.

 

[Phyl]

I've moved mine. BUT I keep a shallow (you've seen it) sand bed, with lots of blowing around.

* Moved 30 to 65, including sand
* Moved 120 to 180, including sand

Both tanks were "young" when the sand got moved. The 30 was less than a year old and the 120 was less than 4 years old. I believe age has as much to do with it as the depth of it. Herbie moved his with DISASTEROUS results. It would be good to know how old and how deep his sand was when he moved it.

 

[1320wrx]

I moved everything from a 55 to a 29 biocube a few days ago, I just kept the sand in a bucket with all my livestock to keep as much bio alive as i could. Then i ran soem Kent Nitrate Sponge just in case i stirred any trates up. I havnt had any problems so far.

 

[blange3]

I think age and depth are the key.

How deep and how old is the sandbed you are considering moving?

The younger and more shallow the better.

If you move a sandbed I would save some water discarded from water changes and give it a real good rinse as well.

 

[reneeRN]

I agree with the others. I recently changed my tank for my dsb, i had a real deep one 11 or more inches with a plenum.  I wouldnt dare move it.  I set my new one up about two months before taking the old one down.  I just seeded it with the old one while it was active.  Just use the first 1/2 inch of sand to seed, dont go digging deep.  I used old sand from another dsb i had years ago stored in a bucket.  You just have to run a hose in the sand bucket outside, keep stirring letting it overflow until totally clear water overflows.  dont run the hose fast or you will lose your oolitic.  MAN THAT OLD DSB STUNK!

 

[Tazmaniancowboy]

My sandbed is around 5-6 years old and is about 4" over the whole footprint of the 120(24" x 48")
I don't think it would be a wise decision to move it so I probably will not. I'm not sure if I am doing a big tank or 2 120's together or no tank at all, but I am leaning towards two 120's so my current thought is to keep some sand to seed and just get new sand. Time (and money of course) will tell!

Thanks for the replies
Taz

 

[Jabis96]

moving it will be a nightmare waiting to happen. if i was to set up another tank i would go bare bottom its so much easier.