Sand... Pain The Backside

[phantomlink]

I found a home for my piranahs the other day so that left me with an open 30g tank. I moved the fish from my 20g into it last night but decided to use sand instead of gravel. Needless to say that even after washing it for almost an hour it was still cloudy this morning but man... its worth it. The tank looks better and before my older Pictus catfish was territorial about his corner but since last night he's been swimming around with the other 2 Pictus seeming to have a fun time. I'm really going to hate putting sand in the 4ft and 6ft tanks when they are ready its going to be a long... long... day. I read a method about putting sand in a pillowsac and washing it instead of a bucket. Maybe I'll try that since I'm in an apartment and dont have a hose.

A quick water change this morning made it a bit clearer, I'll do another tonight until the water is back to its original look

 

[dinsdale]

I assume you cleaned it with a bucket overflow? What kind of sand did you use?
Please let us know when it clears up.

 

[DrRob]

I spent about half an hour washing some playsand for a 50 gallon today, clear already without the pumps running.

 

[phantomlink]

I assume you cleaned it with a bucket overflow? What kind of sand did you use?
Please let us know when it clears up.

Playsand from the hardware store/Home Depot. The first bit was clear when it went into the tank, the rest of it I tried a different method. The first bucket I filled with water, swished it around and then emptied. The second bucket I put more sand in and just let the bath tap run and let the water run out of the bucket. It was somewhat cloudy when I threw it all in the tank, but by morning it was better and I could see my decorations. Just got home from work and the tank is clear minus the odd parts floating around so it took about 20 hours due to my impatience and needing to do it quickly because I already had the old tank drained and the fish sitting in a bucket

I spent about half an hour washing some playsand for a 50 gallon today, clear already without the pumps running.

What method did you use/how much sand at a time did you wash? I spent probably 70 minutes or so for enough sand for the 30 gallon