Using old sand

I'm upgrading from a 45 gallon to a 90 gallon and someone on here told me not to use my old sand because I might stir up detritus however everyone at the store I go to, including the owner told me to use my old sand with combo of new sand to help the tank because it won't cycle however will get half cycled water and half the needed amount of live rock. Anyway what am I suppose to do here? Also just so I don't need to post another thread is a mag drive 9.5 okay for a 90 gallon tank? Or should have I gone with a 1200? I understand that this is the wrong section.

 

Water from an established tank does not contain enough of the beneficial bacteria to make any difference.

I to am on board with buying new sand, while using a cup or two of sand from an established running system to seed the new tank.

You can thoroughly wash and rinse the old sand prior to using in the new tank but defeats the purpose of seeding the new tank, unless you rinse it in SW.

Disturbing an exiting sand bed is risky IMO, others have done it successfully but others have also had issues. The price of new sand versus using old sand is up to you.

 

If it's a shallow sandbed (2" or under) and less than a year old, you should be fine. Otherwise, you're just moving dirty sand into a new system. FYI, your tank most certainly will cycle with all new sand and water; you only need a source of ammonia, not the dirt.

 

when i moved over my tanks, i just bought new sand and placed several handfuls of old sand in the new tank as Cheryl has mentioned.

 

The tank is 8 months old I believe and the sand is probably only a inch deep and come to think of the amount of sand it's going to take to fill that tank bottom the sand I have now won't make a difference. I'm going to try to sum this up the best I can. I plan on making the other half of water, cover it and keep it moving and get it to temp over a day or two then empty out most of the water from the current tank into the same half filled trash can and separate my creatures into other buckets with the water and then have have my family and me move out my old tank in one piece with no water in it(of course) than have my family and me move in the already set up new tank with no water in it. Then fill it up. Is this what anyone else did when they did theirs?

 

Yes I have done it that way. I always use as much clean display water as I can but just to avoid large swings in water chemistry not to seed another system.

If your rock work remains wet with a source of O2 that will do more to prevent a huge cycle than anything else.

 

Should I acclimate the creatures with the huge mix of the both new and old tank water? I'm really worried about losing stuff and leaks and the huge mess of stuff that could go wrong. Did you have any problems?

 

If you plan it right you can add the new sand, fill the tank with SW and let it run over night or for a day or two if possible.

If not you will have to use premixed SW and your current water. Rinse the sand, add the rock and water and acclimate the fish and corals by replacing a portion of the old water with the new tank water into the container housing the fish and corals.

Try to match SG, temp and pH as much as possible.

I would get either some Dr.Tims, Microbacter7 and some Prime just to have in case you get a lot of die off for some reason.

Feed as little as possible for the first couple weeks.

Also transfer any mechanical filtration you have such as sponges or floss to assist in seeding.

Keep corals and fish warm and aerated and you should be able to take your time.

To warm up new SW simply fill the bath tub with warm water and let the containers sit in the water to warm.

 

I won't be able to have the tank run without creatures in it. It needs to be in the same spot and outlet as the first tank. I plan on needing 85 gallons. I got 45 from my current and I'm adding around another 10 for what fills my refugium and the new set up is going to take around 120 gallons, 90 for the tank and 30 for the refugium I bought.(the filter is a little big for this tank but it gives me my wanted room) and then an extra 10 just be sure I got enough. Does anyone know any plumbing sealants I can use that won't harm anything and can be used directly on a leak while its still leaking. No sealant in the tank I just want it handy for plumbing leaks.