I want to dispel a common myth within this hobby. The traditional belief is that once you emplace a sand bed you cannot reuse it. People seem to think that if their sand bed has started growing things, that if they should tear down and rebuild their tanks that they must do so with fresh sand. Commonly, this is seen when people move their tanks, perform serious maintenance, or buy a bigger tank.
This myth is simply not true. With proper preparation the sand bed can be reused indefinitely with no ill consequence.
Sand beds go south as detritus accumulates under the surface. This rotting material causes various chemical reactions. Different bacteria live at different depths and people seem to think these bacteria die off when you move the top layer of sand to the bottom during reuse. Posters on this forum will tell you that these once-top-thriving bacteria die on the bottom of the sand bed as the bed is turned over and the decay causes a tank crash. I've moved several times over the past 5 years and not once have I had a problem with my tanks. I reuse my sand every time.
Here's my method. When I drain the tank, I drain until 6" of water remains in the tank and I save 10 gallons of the old tank water on the side in 5 gallon buckets. With the remaining 6" of water still in the tank and wearing kitchen gloves to protect my hands I mix the sand bed thoroughly for 10 minutes. By working my hands through the sand I'm washing all the detritus out of the bed into the remaining water. The water turns so dark that I can't seen an inch below the surface. Working the sand around moves individual grains against each other helping to break loose any junk. After 10 minutes I pile as much sand as I can against one end of the tank in a big mountain out of the water. This keeps as much junk as possible from setting on the sand before I can remove it. I siphon off the dirty water from the bare section of the tank and discard it. I dump the 10 gallons of clean old tank water back into the sand mountain and repeat the process. The water comes out significantly less dirty yet still fairly cloudy. Most of the flock and detritus that was in the sand bed is washed into suspension in the dirty water and once again I pile the sand into a mountain out of the water and siphon off the dirty water to discard.
At this point you've got relatively clean sand piled up that you can do whatever you'd like with. In my case I loaded 5-gallon buckets and drove 1,500 miles across the country. I've only had the tank set up for a month with no problems, but this is the 5th time I've done this with the oldest recycled sand bed being in place more almost 2 years. I've never had a problem. Quite to the contrary, the first time I mixed and washed the sand bed, it cured my cyano problems and my sand bed has been crystal clear ever since.
Stop throwing out your send beds. Just wash them with old tank water. They'll be fine. It's just a myth.
-Matt
This myth is simply not true. With proper preparation the sand bed can be reused indefinitely with no ill consequence.
Sand beds go south as detritus accumulates under the surface. This rotting material causes various chemical reactions. Different bacteria live at different depths and people seem to think these bacteria die off when you move the top layer of sand to the bottom during reuse. Posters on this forum will tell you that these once-top-thriving bacteria die on the bottom of the sand bed as the bed is turned over and the decay causes a tank crash. I've moved several times over the past 5 years and not once have I had a problem with my tanks. I reuse my sand every time.
Here's my method. When I drain the tank, I drain until 6" of water remains in the tank and I save 10 gallons of the old tank water on the side in 5 gallon buckets. With the remaining 6" of water still in the tank and wearing kitchen gloves to protect my hands I mix the sand bed thoroughly for 10 minutes. By working my hands through the sand I'm washing all the detritus out of the bed into the remaining water. The water turns so dark that I can't seen an inch below the surface. Working the sand around moves individual grains against each other helping to break loose any junk. After 10 minutes I pile as much sand as I can against one end of the tank in a big mountain out of the water. This keeps as much junk as possible from setting on the sand before I can remove it. I siphon off the dirty water from the bare section of the tank and discard it. I dump the 10 gallons of clean old tank water back into the sand mountain and repeat the process. The water comes out significantly less dirty yet still fairly cloudy. Most of the flock and detritus that was in the sand bed is washed into suspension in the dirty water and once again I pile the sand into a mountain out of the water and siphon off the dirty water to discard.
At this point you've got relatively clean sand piled up that you can do whatever you'd like with. In my case I loaded 5-gallon buckets and drove 1,500 miles across the country. I've only had the tank set up for a month with no problems, but this is the 5th time I've done this with the oldest recycled sand bed being in place more almost 2 years. I've never had a problem. Quite to the contrary, the first time I mixed and washed the sand bed, it cured my cyano problems and my sand bed has been crystal clear ever since.
Stop throwing out your send beds. Just wash them with old tank water. They'll be fine. It's just a myth.
-Matt
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