Reusing Old Substrate in Established Tank??

[Woodlol]

Howdy y'all,

I have a planted tank that I've had running for about a year now... the roots of my jungle val and tiger lotus have been going crazy the last few months though and are popping up through the substrate all over the place. Especially the tiger lotus. I have a bag of used fluval stratum (same stuff as my current tank) that I used in my last tank. I was thinking of using it to top off the substrate to cover the roots.

Is there anything I should do to prep the old stratum? It's been sitting in a ziplock on a shelf for maybe 8 months.

 

[Uberhoust]

Any inert substrate like sand or gravel can be re-used with washing first. I would not re-use aquarium soil.