Tank Upgrade, 20 gallon long transferring to a 30 gallon long

[Asian Hurricane]

Hi,

I am upgrading from a 20gallon long AIO to a 30gallon long AIO. I was wondering what the protocol on this was, mainly focusing on if I should keep the old sand or not. I have vacuumed the sand for a deep clean the last 2 days, but is it wiser to just use completely new fiji pink in the new tank? Or is it better to keep the old sand for bacteria purposes. I have a couple fish as well as some coral I need to transfer, so I am hoping to avoid as much of a new cycle as possible. I am also open to any tips and advice on this process as well! Thank you very much!

 

[brandon429]

you should start with perfectly rinsed sand, whether its new or old, for the safest possible xfer.

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

I am fairly worried about moving my freshwater setup as it is fairly overstocked (reduces aggression as no one fish gets singled out). I did fail to think about the toxicity of nitrite on top of ammonia toxicity... Here is my plan for the cichlid tank. I have gradually reduced my pH from 8.2 to...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Ron Reefman]

If you have a resonable amount of live rock in the tank (15 -25 pounds) you don't need the bacteria in the sand. I'd put it all in a bucket and flush it out with a garden hose. Run the water until it overflows the bucket, move the hose around stirring up the sand. When the water runs clear the sand is clean. You can rinse with RO water if you feel the need (I never do). Tip the bucket slowly and let as much water run out as you can. I set mine in the driveway facing downhill and toward the sun for a few hours.

 

[brandon429]

agreed tap is the way to go, we all run out of rinse water too quickly if we go for the kid gloves RO, or saltwater.

the sandbed bacteria won't matter, the live rocks w help out the transition well

also from the thread, drop your light intensity on the new tank for a week don't start same lighting with 0% of the prior organics

*people do tank moves in fear of losing bacteria, they under-rinse the old sand, and risk killing the tank (3rd link in the works set above is a lost tank due to detritus mixing)

the paradox is that blasting the old sand 1000% clean with tap water, then RO to evacuate the tap, then moving over rocks that have been swish-twisted in old tank water to jet off their waste is the safe mode. we can do tank moves for five years in one thread above and lose none.

rocks get swished and twisted in saltwater, we cared for their bacteria.

sand can get flipped, ripped, boiled, removed altogether, changed for new, or 100% tap rinsed to snowglobe clarity because the bacteria on sand do not matter, only ejecting the waste from between the grains matters.

*when buying new sand, still tap rinse it. not for destructive detritus but for silt clouding that looks horrible and serves no benefit in a reef tank. pre rinse the sand, no matter what.

 

[Asian Hurricane]

Thank you everyone for all of the answers! Ok, so should I just use new rinsed sand if I want to be safe? I know I saw a youtube video in which they added new sand straight out of the bag when trying to replenish the sandbed. I believe that it was from waterbox and they said that the consequent cloudiness would not hurt anything. But I suppose thats for replenishing sand and not applicable to a tank transfer? Thanks again!

Also how much sand do people recommend for a 30g long innovative marine tank?

 

[Fakegolfnews]

Thank you everyone for all of the answers! Ok, so should I just use new rinsed sand if I want to be safe? I know I saw a youtube video in which they added new sand straight out of the bag when trying to replenish the sandbed. I believe that it was from waterbox and they said that the consequent cloudiness would not hurt anything. But I suppose thats for replenishing sand and not applicable to a tank transfer? Thanks again!

Also how much sand do people recommend for a 30g long innovative marine tank?

I juat use new sand. Its so much easier and will give your tank some extra miles