transferring live sand from one tank to another

[reeffanatic]

i am in the process of moving everything from my 29 gal. reef to a new 45 gal. and have a few questions...

i have heard that you should only move the top 1 inch of livesand from your existing reef because the top layer is where all of the sandbed critters "reside" for lack of a better term... because moving all of the sand will kill off alot of them.... IS THERE ANY TRUTH TO THIS ??

in transferring my 29 gal..should i set up my 45 gal. as a "new" system,cycling it as if it were new? or should i transfer all of my reef (water and all) then top it off with freshly mixed saltwater ?


these seem like trivial questions but i have a great thing going with my 29 gal. right now and am thrilled about setting up my new 45 gal. but am afraid to !@#$% everything up..


any input would be appreciated

[Tim Marvin]

Transfer all of it then top it off. The sand is trickier to move. Scoop the top inch off then move the sand over and put the top back on. You will still have die off but not as bad. The problem is in the deeper layers you will have a lot of bacteria stirred into your water that was not there before. I would let it settle out for an hour or two before putting all the livestock back in.

[Isis]

You do want to put the "dead" sand on the bottom and put the live stuff on top. I know some who will drain their tank almost completely and just add whole sections of the original sand bed as is. Never heard of the whole die off from under the top layer. My 6" bed always had life in the bed no matter the depth. The gases were stirred up when moved, but that wasn't a promble when adding it to a new tank, just when the live stock was in the original tank is when that can be a problem.