Cloudy Sand

[squishy_1984]

Iam going to put my sand/laterite mix with a sand layer on top in my tank today but will not be filling it with water for a few weeks.
Will it be ok if i do not wash the sand as it would take a life time to dry it all out.
was planning on putting the sand in and when i put water in (in 2-3 weeks) i could let a filter run on its own to get rid of the dust.
Would that be ok or would i get dust clouds evrytime it got disturbed???

Hope you understand that

Jon

 

[BigIan]

it would be easyer to just do it all in one go.

I put the sand in my tank yesterday and it only took em about an hour to wash 35 kilos of sand
I woke up thismorning and the tank is almost completly clear just a little crud floating on the surface

so id say just wait

 

[squishy_1984]

Any one else have any opinions on this.
Would really like to get some sand in there, it looks so boring being empty!

 

[IceH2O]

Honestly you'll regret not washing the sand.

Washing the sand removes all the finest particles. If you just pour the sand in the tank and add water you'll end up with an endless cycle of cloudiness. Well it will seem endless, obviously water changes and filter fiber replacements will take out the finest particles but its more trouble than cleaning the sand.

Why do you think you need to dry out the sand?

 

[Torrean]

I put playsand in my ten gallon yesterday and it was SO easy I couldn't believe it. I got a 5 gallon tank and put a 1 inch layer of sand in the bottom. Filled it up disturbing the sand the whole time. Then when it got full and the water was full of crud I dumped most of the water out leaving only the heaviest sand in the tank. I repeated this process 5 or 6 times and then filled the tank and counted how long it took for it to clear completely...When the water cleared completely in 7 seconds I dumped out the water and put the sand in the bottom of my dry ten gallon. Then I repeated the process. When I filled my ten with water the water was COMPLETELY clear. no cloudiness whatsoever. It's awesome... you lose a bit of sand in the process but I think it was totally worth it considering I got 50 pounds for 3 dollars. WAY cheaper than gravel. So far sand rocks.

 

[clareriley]

Washing the sand is so easy. I would wash it m8.