Trying to clean sand

[ccg]

Hello.

Today I picked up a few bags of play sand for my tanks and I am trying to clean it. What I have done is put it in several buckets and filled it with really hot water. Right away the water turns brown, I let it sit for a while (am I supose to let this settle?) and then I siphon the water off the top and replace it with fresh water.

Not to sure what I am doing so any advice at all will help.

Thanks everyone.

 

[SarahBravo]

I think it's just like gravel but messier - you pour in water, stir so the lighter stuff comes to the top (dust) and pour off. Keep repeating till the water runs clear when you stir. Can take ages apparently, but the more you rinse, the less cloudy your tank will be at the start. Kinda like panning for gold - you keep sloshing it about but keep the heavier sand at the bottom and let the dust rise up and get sluiced out.

I bought play sand yesterday, will be rinsing it myself tomorrow!

 

[ccg]

I wish tehre was an easier way of going about this. I have done this for a long time now and the water on top is never looking any better.

Any ideas?

 

[jflowers]

I put the sand in a bucket and run it under the tap, leave the tap running and stir the sand now and again. When the water runs clear from the bucket, its ready to go. If you then place the sand in the tank, lay some waited down plastic sheet/bag over it, and add 3/4 of the water before removing the plastic sheeting/bag its clear from day one!

Jon

 

[SirMinion]

I put the sand in an old pillowcase then stick a hosepipe in there with it.
Once the water runs clear I give it a final rinse in a bucket.

 

[colegamby]

how long is a long time mine took about an hour to do enough for a ten gallon

 

[SirMinion]

Maybe the sand I buy is cleaner to start with, but it only took about half an hour to do enough to fill a 70g to 5 inches. *shrugs*

 

[silvershark]

took me about an hour to clean 20kilos of play sand.

Well... i say it took me an hour but i only spent about 15 minutes doing anything! all i did was fill a bucket with the sand and bury a hose, holding it down with a rock, left that going and stirred it up once in a while...

i put the sand in the tank then added water, thinkin it'd take ages to settle, 20 mins later it was fine!!!

 

[ccg]

Alright, my cleaning seems to be going forward anyhow, i'll let you know how it goes.

My next concern, how do you clean it once its in the tank?

Normally I just use a gravel vac to clean the bottom of my tanks, but with sand I dont think that will work, how do you do it?

 

[Katchan]

I have 4 tanks with sand 2 with cories and 2 without. The 2 with cories are fine, but the 2 without cories I use a gravel vac an inch or 2 above the surface and suck up the yuk, some people reccomend also use a slight swirling moting but I cant do this with knocking my plants about. You should also run a stick/fork (i use old copsticks) through the sand every water change or 2 to release built up gasses in the substrate.

Katchan

 

[Macracantha]

Easiest way is to wash the sand/gravel in a bucket under running water, or at least do many water changes...it is a lot quicker in the long run not to have too much in the bucket at a time...something like 10-20% of the bucket each wash!

 

[Bloo]

I know it's more expensive, but I just buy the pre-washed stuff so that I give it a 2 minute rinse and "bob's your uncle!" It's just not practical for me in a flat trying to rinse masses of sand in a bathtub

 

[Iron Man]

I've never had much of a problem washing playsand either. I've bought enough to fill a 55 gallon tank 3 inches deep on 2 different occasions and all I do is fill a 5 gallon bucket about half full and run water through it with a water hose stuck down into it. Stir it good with your hands....situate the hose somehow to where it can't come out of the 5 gallon bucket....and leave it for a few minutes. Do whatever you want. Then go back and stir again. Repeat this process a few times and the water should be clear and the sand ready to dump. Even if its not completely clear before you dump it....it WILL get clear once you turn your filters back on. Regular filter floss doesn't have much trouble filtering the dust.

Just make sure you get most or a lot of it anyway.

 

[cichlid]

I know it's more expensive, but I just buy the pre-washed stuff so that I give it a 2 minute rinse and "bob's your uncle!" It's just not practical for me in a flat trying to rinse masses of sand in a bathtub

yeah man, me too, cept mine never said pre washed.. but it was a bag the size that they put fish into, for 3.50$, i didnr care, i rinsed it and it wasnt even dirty

 

[ccg]

Alright guys, seeking a little more advice at what to do at this point.

I have enough sand to do some of my bigger tanks, but I thought I would setup a 10 gallon with sand just to see how things go and decide weather or not I want it in my my tanks etc.

I have cleaned the sand a fair bit, but it still looks a bit cloudly. I put the sand in the bottom of the 10 gal and let it settle, the water is still filled with the "dust". I am going to add a filter to help clear up the water a little, but wondering if it is safe for the filter?

I don't want to damage it.