question about sand.

There are different opinions for this question. Some will say you can't use it ever again. Some will say clean and reuse. Some will say just move it to the new tank.

I did not rinse my sand when i upgraded then again it wasnt alot probably around 15lbs on a 75G just barely covering the bottom of the tank.

fresh water will kill off any remaining life on the sand.  I like the saltwater rinse idea, I plan on using it to help clean out my tank and re-set it.

Oh and a comment about rinsing a portion of the LS. It is much simpler and easier to rinse it thoroughly with tap water and immediately immerse it back into some LW. There is no need for dechlorination.

Well, it certainly could not hurt anything and, considering that de-chlorinating chemicals actually reduce ammonia, it could be a good thing to have on hand if die off in the disturbed sand causes an ammonia spike a day or two later. Personally, I prefer to light up a bunch of algae to eat up the ammonia/pollution, but have used de-chlorinating products to handle extreme ammonia situations.

The reason I believe that de-chlorinator isn't necessary is that our tanks can handle a lot more chlorine than most hobbyists realize. In freshwater tanks I've done 30% water changes with straight tap water with no bad effects. In reef aquariums I've added 10% tap water and saw no bad effects. As usual, hobbyist paranoia was created by the companies that sell the products.

One more thing to think about. The amount of tap water that would be left after rinsing and draining the LS is very negligible and if the rinsed LS is placed quickly back into LW the extra crud/detritus will be gone, opening up the spaces between sand particles. The bacteria that remained on and in the rinsed LS and survived can then quickly re-populate the sand bed.

Agreed.