question on disturbing the sand bed

[johng1]

My tank is a little noisy AND I had a minor flood of a couple gallons about a week ago, so I've decided to drill the tank and install a bean animal setup.

Since I've got to take everything out of the tank, what do I need to do on the sand bed? It varies, but on average it is probably 3 or 4 inches deep. I've heard a lot that disturbing the sand bed while livestock is in there can lead to disaster.

I'd rather not lose all my live sand, but I don't want to kill all my livestock either.
I'm thinking that to be safe, I should just get some more sand and throw a scoop or two of the old sand in for seed? Or, would just removing the livestock and water, then taking out the sand (stirring and rinsing it before putting it back?

I'm leaning toward the idea of just replacing the sand.

John

 

[Grizz]

I'd take 3-4 cups of the old sand and save it put it in the holding tank with the rest of your livestock then rinse the rest with the tank water, this way you don't kill every thing that's living in the sand but you will get rid of most of the detritus that's in it. fill the drilled tank with new salt water and the rinsed sand and test...test...test... watch for a spike in ammo the 3-4 cups of old sand will reseed the clean sand