Moving to new tank.

arizonagrace

Reefing newb
I have 2 clowns that I am moving from a 12 gallon eclipse to a 15 gallon long acrylic tank. This will give them more room. I may even go with the 20 gallon glass, but that is not as long. I also have a 12 gallon aquapod that now has just a watchman goby. Going to move the goby to a 24 gallon with a pajama cardinal and cleaner shrimp. He will be happy there.

My question is:

How do I move the sand from the 2 tanks into the new tank. I have read so many different options and I am so confused. I will be able to use all the liverock from both tanks in the new one, and plan on moving crabs and stuff over too. I only have about 3 hours to do this, as that is the only time I will have a helper.

Do I just scoop all the sand and move it to new tank, then add liverock, etc? I know the sand will be dirty. I really don't want to knowingly kill off anything living in the sand. Is just moving it the best way? Or is there toxic stuff in the sand that is best left alone?

I plan on moving all liverock over (less some decorations that have been in there that aren't liverock). And I will have to use a new filter for them, as the eclipse has a different set up for filters. I thought I would put in a powerhead, and put in the old sponge and bioballs from 12 aquapod in to keep the tank from cycling, then slowly taking them out at a rate of one a month or so. I can even hide some of the bio balls behind rock.

Please help. I am so confused. I really don't want to keep the 12 aqua running as it is harder to maintain, and sits in middle of the room.

The only other option would be to tear down the 12 aqua, move it to other side of the room, put in clowns, and get rid of 12 eclipse. But I don't have room anywhere else for the all the liverock. Putting all of that rock in the 12 aqua will seriously drop the actual water volume.

Ugh. :frustrat:
 
I'd just throw the old sand away and start with a new bag of sand. You can add a small cup of the old sand to seed the new stuff if you want, but its not necessary. The problem with moving sand is that it kicks up a lot of waste into the water column and can cause your tank to cycle again. Unless you rinse it really really well it is not worth the risk.
 
I am currently planning a tank move. I am planning on getting new sand and just dumping the old stuff. There can be a lot of trapped crud in the sand. If you want to reuse the sand, I would rinse it very well then reseed it with your live rock.
 
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