Rinse sand?

I recently discovered a leak in my 90gal FOWLR tank, running for a little over 2 months. Unfortunately I believe it is at the bottom of the tank so I am forced to drain the tank in order to repair it. I have all rock and livestock in temporary tanks. Question is before I put everything back in should I rinse the sand out? I mean would it do more harm then good? Sorry new to the hobby and trying my best to not do anything stupid.

 

Since you are disturbing the sand bed I would rinse the sand with saltwater.

other then when necessary(like now) you never want to disturb the sand bed.

 

At only 2 months old rinsing the sand should not cause any problems, follow SOSTOUDT's advice and you'll be ok

 

Sounds good. Will do. Thanks.

 

So I am gonna start rinsing the sand tomorrow and I am wondering if you guys (or girls) out there have any tips on how to do it? Do I start off by making up a container of saltwater to do the rinsing? Any ideas would be great!

 

Did you or were you able to save any water from the tank? If so, use that water to rinse.

 

Yes I did actually. Good thing I did that. LOL.

 

Yup, you got it!

 

So might be a dumb question. If I use my original water to rinse the sand out, most if not all the water in my tank will be new, will that mean my cycle will start over? Also will I have to acclimate all my livestock again?