Upgrading Tank

[sen5241b]

I am going to tank my old tank down, put everything in containers and then put the new tank in the same place.

 

What kinds of problems has anyone experienced upgrading their tank? Especially concerned about sand. Rinse sand in tank water?

[Jim Mc]

I have done this twice.  I have never reused the sand or the water.  I reused the rock once and used brand new dry rock the other time.

 

I know some here may not agree but I would recommend getting the bacteria cultures for rapid cycling.  I have never lost a thing even when starting with brand new dry rock.

 

Hope that helps a little.  Other members have more experience base don their jobs in the aquarium business and might have more tips.

[gmerek2]

I have moved my tank twice. No losses. I threw the sand out and went bare bottom though. The rock being transferred over had more than enough bacteria to keep things going. However I upped water changes first few weeks just to make sure and some nastys get stirred up out of the rock.

[Bruleyii]

I had to do a complete change over in one day when I upgraded because of space. I reused all the water I could and reused the rock. I did not reuse the sand though. Way less stressful to just buy new sand. I used some bottled bacteria too. My tank still cycled and Im still dealing with the algae but Ive been lax on the water changes. I didnt lose any fish or corals during transfer but a few corals did get a bit stressed.

[sen5241b]

Its funny because I've researched this on the web and I've heard many say they rinsed the sand and reused it and everything was fine and others did the same thing and the tank went south. Some rinsed the sand with a garden hose and complained their tanks cycled. Duh.

[Bruleyii]

I was always told that you have to rinse really really well. I decided I wouldnt take the risk and just buy new.

[mogurnda]

I have re-used sand quite a few times.  If it's still live, I give a thorough rinse with clean SW to get rid of debris.  I always expect some sort of algae bloom whenever a tank is disrupted and gets out of equilibrium, and keeping the sand does not seem to make a difference one way or the other.

[YHSublime]

If the tank has been setup for more than a year, I usually just buy new sand, and use the same rock. I always get the diatom bloom, but never seen a hard cycle. 

[flooddc]

I upgraded tanks a few times and re-used everything including the sand. Never had any problem. I transferred only about 50% of the old water. Also, rinsed the sand in the old tank water using fish net 

[sen5241b]

all good advice, thanks. I am going to stir the sand in a bucket until rinse water is clear. Let you know what happens

[sen5241b]

I completed the upgrade from 20 to 29G last Saturday. I had 3 inches of sand in a 20G Long. I threw 20% of it out and rinsed the remainder in a tray. Added salt water to tray, stirred it with my hands and poured the water off the top. The water turned very dark gray at first. I kept rinsing until it was almost clear. It took about 6 gallons of salt water to rinse it thoroughly. Put it in the new tank and the sand now looks much whiter than it did, Just measured nitrates and they are zero and there is no sign of any cycle or algal bloom. All livestock, so far, has survived upgrade.

[s2nhle]

Glad to hear it works well for you.