Moving Sand from One Tank to Another (Cleaning Required?)

[pauliewalnuts]

i have a 10g tank that I set up a few months ago and i had planned on using it as a fuge...well that idea never happend and the tank ended up just sitting there filled with water and livesand.

i had a PH running for about half the time...but for the past month or so it has just been sitting.

my question is can i somehow clean the sand and add it to my 75g display tank? last night i took the sand out of the 10g, put it in a pot, then ran water through it till the water was almost clear...then i boiled the sand in a big pot of water, then drained it.

so is the sand ok to add to my 75g or is there something else i should do?

thanks

josh

[Wiskey]

I normally say not to ever re-use sand,.. but since this sand has never really been used in a tank that has any fish or coral in it I say your probably fine putting it in your other tank.

Whiskey

[betamed]

If the sand is only a few months old then I would think just rinsing would be OK. If it is older sand it gets loaded up with phosphates that can leach back into the tank. Maybe try a little and see how the tank reacts.

[pauliewalnuts]

ok thanks....what would be the phos. issue? will the sand itself absorb phos? or are you talking about stuff stuck between and among the sand? because i gave it a pretty long cleaning, stirring, boiling! the sand never had and algea or red slime on it (or in the tank for that batter)...there was however a bunch of mangroves and at one time a zebra damsel in there....come to think of it i think my brother actually left the dead damsel in there for a little while....

but anyway.....what cleaning could be doen to the sand to make it useable?

[pauliewalnuts]

anyone else?

[pauliewalnuts]

really want to make use of this sand...anyone with ideas? other wise i think ill just start adding a little at a time.

[TheReefer12]

I would just give it a good cleaning. Is this a DSB or SSB?

[pauliewalnuts]

you mean the tank that i am putting the sand in? well its kinda of both at the moment...actually its a dsb on the right side, BB on the left, and in between in the middle....

my eel has cleared part of the left side and the eel and tomato clown has created quite a hill on the right side.

[jenajet]

I it would be fine since the tank wasn't very old or overstocked. The boiling probably killed of everything anyway.

[Fly Guy]

If we are only talking about a ten gallon tank worth of sand, id toss it and start entirely fresh.

I do agree that since it has hardly been used, it isnt that bad oif an idea to try to reuse it, but we are only talking about 5-20 bucks depending on how much and what kind of sand. Its not worth it.. just start fresh entirely.

just my $.02


I can without question say one of the biggest mistakes i have ever made in reefing(and ive made a lot of them), was trying to salvage an old sand bed by cleaning and reusing.

[pauliewalnuts]

hmmmm...im the type of person that really hates to waste things (particularly $)...and yes i know this is the wrong hobby if you want to save money...but im really trying to figure out what could be in the sand that would cause a problem.

i mean ive rinsed, stirred, drained, rinsed, stirred, drained it for like 30-40 minutes till the water came out clear...then boiled it for near 15 minutes....so anything in it would be dead and rinsed out....

what could cling to the sand that would cause a problem....for the most part it was sitting water.

[Fly Guy]

You will be fine.....it IS fairly new sand.

I wouldnt reuse it myself is all i was saying.

FWIW, if the sand was loaded with P, all the rinsing and boiling in the world wouldnt change that.