How To: Help Needed on how to reuse sand and minimize changes of a cycle

IHaveCrabs

IHaveCrabs

Premium member
Here is the deal.. I have figured out that I love building tanks and always find a new type I want to try. So I'm going from a 180 Gallon to a 60 gallon shorty (48x24x12).

The question.. How do you go about cleaning live sand before transferring it over to the new tank? Stir it up in a 5g bucket with fresh saltwater and empty the water a few times?
 
I would not resuse the sand as I'm thinking you're going to transfer over some LR but if you insist on it then I'd rinse the sand a couple of times with the old (clean-ish) water from the 180.

Good luck.
 
I have done exactly what you said more than once with no issues. I just moved and had to move my 90 gallon tank. When I first set it up it was with no sand for about a week than I rinsed and added abut 25% back every week or two. Its been three months and I did not lose anything and have had no issues.
 
The sand in my new 40 breeder is all reused sand from my 28jbj and biocube 14.. All i did was place all the sand in a bucket and took the hose and just hosed down the sand until the water was clear.. After cleaning it up i just placed in the tank and used dr tims.. Wait the 2 weeks or a month for the cycle and ur all done


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I've done this a few times in past tanks and getting a few lbs here and a few lbs there from other members. I have found that some fresh water doesn't hurt the "live" nature of the sand. Couple buckets, some rubber gloves, and some back muscle. Do about 1/3 a bucket at a time, swish some fresh water around in the sand with your gloved hand, dump the dirty water out, put that sand into the "washed" pile. Basically you are just trying to wash the majority of the crap out of the old sand and still keep it healthy. It will cause a spike in the new system so let that run for a bit before it tests good.
 
I'd rinse it with clean saltwater. Why risk killing the bacteria? You should heave plenty of water coming from the 180g.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top