Cleaning Sand

[Bri]

Hi i bought sand for my new tank. Im wondering what the story is with cleaning it. Do i just rinse water through it before it runs clean? just wanted to post to make sure i do it right first time around? does the water have to be crystal clear before i put it in the tank?

 

[gatorsean]

yeah you want to try to make it as clear as possible. Using a small amount of sand in bucket and spraying it with a hose worked well for me. It will take a while to do but it is worth it.

 

[Bri]

see i dont have access to a hose. I just have my kitchen sink and i dont want lots of sand to go down the drain. I have two buckets to use. Id better just get a start and get it over with.

 

[the_lock_man]

OK, what you should do is half fill one of the buckets with sand, top up with water and swoosh it around a bit. You'll see the dust come off the sand, so your pour that away (maybe best to do that outside, rather than an internal drain). Top up with water again, and swoosh it around a bit. You'll see some more dust come off the sand, so you pour that away (maybe best to do that..... ok you get the picture). After several top-ups and swooshes, you'll see there's very little dust coming off. When that happens, pour the sand into your other bucket.

Repeat with the next batch of sand.

And the next.

And the next.

And the next.

Until you've got enough sand.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Personally, I would suggest only doing about 1 gallon at a time for a 5 gallon bucket. But the method described above is ideal. You really do want to churn the sand up though as the dust is found through out the sand.


Think about using more water than you think you need - I filled my bucket up to almost the very top and swished my arm around all the way to the bottom of the sand. Give it a good churn and wait about 2-5 minutes. The heavy stuff will sink first and the lighter stuff will stay afloat. Pour this off - if it doesn't settle in 5 minutes, it isn't going to settle for a long time. It may seem like you are losing a lot of sand. You really aren't though. The stuff that you are getting rid of is the stuff that you would have clouding up your tank and getting clogged in your filter (in other words, you are doing yourself a favor). Repeat until you see that the water is basically crystal clear after 2 minutes of letting it sit.