Holding Tank?

Im selling my 60g tank and I have a 20long

Could I put the water,some rocks, sand & backpak filter from the 60 into the 20 and NOT HAVE TO CYCLE IT?
To hold all my coral and fish(2 damsels)
For like 2 months?
While I get my new tank?

 

maybe :. As far as I know it would depend on how much stuff you have trapped in your sand and how bad it would be to disturb the sand.

 

I think it would be ok if you take the water out before disturbing the sand bed. If I'm not mistaken, the problem is pockets of air that would rise when you scooped the sand. If you scoop it and put it in the 20, the sand shouldn't still release anything once it is settled again.

This is just a theory though. Also, you might have too many corals and damsels for 20 gallons of water.

 

Ok im going to try it and put some kenya trees in there first. To test it

 

What do the air pockets do? I thought it was all about how much detritus you have in the sand and mixing it up was the problem.

 

Supposedly, in deep sand if the sand is not stirred every once in a while then poisonous gases build up from everything that is rotting in it. I've heard conflicting info on if this is true. Some people say it doesn't happen at all, some say it is necessary to stir once a month unless you have something that digs down there a lot, some say it happens but if the sand is as deep as it should be then it won't be a problem (unless you start scooping it out like the poster wants to).

I'd take most of the stuff out and 20 gallons of good water before starting to take out sand just in case.

 

ok, I have seen bubbles develop in sand that I did not have a cuc in at the time, so I could see that happening.
Thanks

 

What else does anybody think?