New sand or not

I have had my tank for about 2 months now. I Bought it off of craigslist and after moving it and shifted the sand it caused a huge algae bloom. I have everything under control now but now I am moving. Should I, while I have the chance, replace the sand in the tank? The person I bought it off of said it had been set-up for 2 years and it is about a 2 inch deep sand bed. I have a pretty good CUC now that I have built up over the past 2 months that should handle the algea bllom if it happens again, but I figured that since I have the chance now would be the best time to change it.

Is this a viable idea? I cant seem to think of any ill effects to changing the sand out.

 

I would use the opportunity to change the sand over. I can't see anything negative about it. Besides you will have to take out the old stuff to move the tank anyhow...

 

I would swap sand.

Might need to replace a lot of CuC after the move...

 

I was thinking that is what i was going to do but should I use dry sand or sand out of a friends established tank? If i use the established tank wont I have a mini cycle?

 

when i moved i kept roughly 25% of my old sand and got new sand...the only reason i wanted new sand was because i wanted fiji pink...anyway...u may experience a bloom, your tank will def. have some sort of noticable cycle...(by means of testing)...

anyway, i would save atleast 10% of the old sand to atleast seed what ever new sand you will be buying..."live sand" marketed in stores is supposedly not too "alive" but the time it reaches our tanks...basic dry sand would take longer to become seeded...

either way youll be ok...are you moving any corals/sensitive inverts during this move? that would be my other concern.

 

You could just use dry sand with a cup full of sand from an established tank. You might have a little mini cycle just from moving all of the rocks around anyhow.

When I upgraded tanks, I used new sand and put my old sand in the fuge (it was only a couple of months old) and I did not see any noticeable cycle.

 

you didnt see a cycle or you didnt test for a cycle?? if his nitrates spike too high, he can say bye bye to that CUC...

i like the idea of using the sand in the fuge tho...i actually seeded my fuge with a cup of sand from an online sand swap...nation wide, even got some sand str8 off the hawiian reef in there.

 

I tested and never saw any cycle. Never saw the nitrates rise either. Nitrates have always been 0 for me....*knocks on wood* Got a small diatom bloom after a couple of days but that went away pretty much overnight.

BTW, I also switched to the fiji pink. LOVE IT! fine enough for my goby but not too fine that it creates a sandstorm.

Might have to replace members of the CUC anyhow just from being lost in the sand.

 

thats cool, it makes perfect sense...u disturbed the bed, and caused a lil spike but since u put the sand in the fuge, u pretty much kept a majority of your of all your microfauna and things....once everything settled in, the tank was right back to its old ways.

at first i had sand from the beach, which i thoroughly cleaned to the point of insanity...but i agree with you fiji pink is the way to go...i would like to try black sand next.

and dig around for those sand sifting snails...when u think u got them all, check again...then check once more...im just that kinda guy, lol, i would feel back if i left a lil buddy behind...i still pluck starfish and pods out of the chaeto that i prune and throw away...lol

 

Thanks everyone I will keep a little of my sand and use fresh when i move with just a little of my old sand for seeding. I plan on having a small cycle luckily i dont have any corals as of yet. If I ned to replace any of my CUC that is ok i was planning to add a few more snails anyways