year old dsb move

[saurus]

I am planning on moving my dsb from my one year old 100 gallon to a new 150 gallon and I was concerned about what I may stir up. It is approx 4-6 inches deep and the dimensions of the tank are 18x60. Should I just transfer the top 2 inches only and use brand new home depot sand for the base? Should I be concerned with what I may release into the new tank when I shovel all that sand into it? I have approx 150 lbs of live rock on top of the sand. I have had a sand sifting star for about 7 months which I still see from time to time and about 5 of those sand sifting snails (I forget their names). I also have had a mandarin goby for about 3 months. I do have a clean up crew of about 60 hermits and 35 snails. Any information would be appreciated. Should I just go without the sandbed all together? The new tank dimensions are going to be 24x24x60 glass with built in overflows. I plan on doing the move in one day.

Thanks,

[indy]

I'd just transfer it over and not worry about it, especially if you've had it being continually sifted by the livestock.

[Atari]

Originally Posted by saurus

Should I just transfer the top 2 inches only and use brand new home depot sand for the base?

This is what I would do. You should be fine to move everything but I'm paranoid like that. I'd hate to release some kind of sulphide build-up into the old tank and kill everything - did I mention I'm paranoid? - but this is extremely unlikely after only a year.

[saurus]

Thanks for the feedback. I think I feel confident moving everything over to the new tank. I forgot to mention that about a month ago I bought a nano cube and used sand from my 100 to cover the bottom of the nano. I did dig pretty deep in the 100 gallon and had no problems with polution in either tank. Thanks again...

[Atari]

You should probably pick up some more sand-dwellers once you have everything transferred. I would have a few dozen nassarius snails at least. Be aware that the sandsifting star although good at doing what it's name implies, will also deplete the dsb of worms and pods, which means less for your mandarin to eat.

[ellisz]

I moved my DSB after about 9 months with no issues. I scooped it all out and put it in a rubbermaid container. When I had the tank set back up, I scooped it all back in.

Fish and corals all made it.

[saurus]

Did you have a clouding problem when you transferred all the sand back in the new tank? I would hate to put all my rock and livestock back into a cloudy tank. And thanks for the info Atari.