Can I use old sand in a temporary tank? Other tank transfer advice welcome

Thalasstronaut

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I transferred my 40 breeder into a 90 gallon (plus a 40b sump) maybe three weeks ago. Turns out, I hate the spot I have my 90 gallon and I want to move it. My plan is to:

Drain water into 40 breeder + a 55 I have on hand.

Move fish and some rock into 40.

Move tank and stand to new location (across the living room.)

Move water from 55 into tank.

Move fish from 40 into tank.

Move remaining water from 40 into sump.

Now, if there’s any better way to go about this, please let me know. My concern is that after I moved the fish over from the 40 to the 90, the tank has sat empty with some remaining sand but no water for that time, approximately three weeks. Is there a risk to using this sand because of any decaying organic matter that might be in it? Like is it basically an ammonia bomb waiting to go off if I fill the tank with water again and put fish in?

I’m fine mixing up a whole system’s worth of water again, is there any harm in essentially changing out 100% of the water all at once, while the fish are in the 40? Obviously that would extend the time they’re in there from a few hours to days but if that’s the better course of action, that’s what I’ll do.

I’ll have to spray it out and clean it anyway when I’m done, I’m just trying to avoid having to do it twice, though better safe than sorry I suppose. Just curious if I’m being paranoid.

Thanks in advance.
 

Timfish

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When I move tanks it's all done as fast as possible and everything is just stuck in buckets for an couple hours. Since there's a lot of muck stirred up I may use some of the old sand after rinsing out in clean slatwater. I also do not bother rinsing out the display tank with fresh water but just quickly wipe the sides off with a towel.
 
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