advice to help prevent a cycle in a tank move

[The Grizz]

Like BWA stated if you have to reuse the sand THOUROUGHLY clean the sand. I have done this a couple time's with about 30 lbs of sand, it takes a long time to do it properly. I used a large fish net and only did 2 cups at a time under very hot water.

[viperfish]

+1 on the sand. Some good info here http://www.wetwebmedia.com/lrshippingfaqs.htm

[Cranky When Wet]

Originally Posted by medhatreefguy

+1 on the sand. Some good info here http://www.wetwebmedia.com/lrshippingfaqs.htm

+1 for WetWebMedia.com !!!!

Do a search of only the site for "moving live sand"

I personally feel moving an old sand bed is dangerous as there's always a lot of die off with corresponding cycle...

You could buy non-live sand (clean) and seed it from the old sand (take a few cups over)... but,

in the end it's all about patience........................

Bunny >:-)

[reefan]

Yep tank cycles even on a smaller scale seem to be inevitable.

[bkelly]

thanks everyone, ill go the route of new sand and seed with a bit of mine,

yes the new tank is going in the same spot of the 75 so i got to do everything at once - itll be a busy weekend.

I hope my manderine dragonnet finds enough food off the rocks and im not taking what he eats away.

[The Grizz]

Originally Posted by bkelly

thanks everyone, ill go the route of new sand and seed with a bit of mine,

yes the new tank is going in the same spot of the 75 so i got to do everything at once - itll be a busy weekend.

I hope my manderine dragonnet finds enough food off the rocks and im not taking what he eats away.

That is a good choice if you are nervous about a cycle for sure. If you keep your live rock in water, heated and flow in the bin and you should be fine. If you see any pods when you remove the LR be sure to net them and put with the rock.

[Navarchus]

Hi
I don’t know what depth your send is/was but if it is over couple of inches I would handle it very carefully and wash it for sure. Don’t touch the send before you get all the livestock and rocks out. In some cases a toxic sulfide compounds can get into the water body and kill everything.

If you are planning to add rocks to the new tank and there are dry rocks you should cycle them in a separate tank/canister before introducing into the main tank.

One should keep in mind that the aquarium is a dynamic living system, cycling is an important part of it….your system always unnoticeably mini cycling and any major change will result in some more substantial cycle.

Good luck