Washing Sand

[markandhisfish]

as titled really im changing from gravel to sand tonight. whats the easiest most effective way to was 45 to 60 kg of sand?

 

[england]

Well you decided to go sand eh going to watch this and see how you get on as its 50/50 wether or not to go sand with my 566litre........so goodluck....

 

[loachman]

Put some in a bucket (max of 1/4 full, put in less for real dirty sand) and pour water over it, swirl around, dump the water, repeat until the water runs clear. Dump the sand in another bucket/the tank and start over until you have enough sand.

If you have a garden hose, it works better to use it to "pour" in the water and "mix" the sand as you add water.

 

[Davo86]

Put some in a bucket (max of 1/4 full, put in less for real dirty sand) and pour water over it, swirl around, dump the water, repeat until the water runs clear. Dump the sand in another bucket/the tank and start over until you have enough sand.

If you have a garden hose, it works better to use it to "pour" in the water and "mix" the sand as you add water.

Agreed with above, I did this with my 240L,
takes ages and your lucky if you don't get sand or water everywhere, but IMO worth it in the end.

GoodLuck

 

[Inchworm]

Hi markandhisfish

I do the same but use a clean dishpan and lukewarm water while standing at the kitchen sink. I find that the results are better if I work with just a few cupfuls at a time and wash it well, than to try to clean a big batch at a time. It gets done more quickly than you would think.

 

[Neo_ad]

I have done this myself a couple of times, and I just recently did it again but this time I made a few changes

If you have access to a high powered hose pipe one with an adjustable nossle, it will make this millions of times easier and cleans it much better IMO.

Just aim into the bucket and mash it up as much as you can, pour out mess, repeat until clear.

I picked up a hosepipe and attachments in Argos for £11.

You would only need to do this if you have a fair few bags, I will be doing 10

 

[Johnlenham]

Because I didn't have a hose i filled up a bucket about 1/3rd full and stuck it in the bath under the old tap and turned it on full whack,gave it a good sitir then let it run for a few mins coming back every so often to churn it up again. Seems to have worked as my tank was only cloudy for about 20mins and has been fine since (3 weeks + ago)

 

[markandhisfish]

well ive just got back from town with 4 bags of argos play sand ( was fun carrying that lot to the car !) plan is that 1stly i will remove decor etc then vac the living hell out of mny gravel which will 1stly deep clean it and 2ndly drop the water level to make working easier. then wash sand and add as its washed until i have ebough then put back the decor etc. once ive finished getting ratty and swearing a lot cursing the decision i will let you know how it went

 

[Fisses]

what about putting lots of tiny pin holes in the bottom of the bag and just keep filling up the bag with water and let it all drain,

then jiggle the bag about and repeat as many times as necessary??

 

[loachman]

what about putting lots of tiny pin holes in the bottom of the bag and just keep filling up the bag with water and let it all drain,

then jiggle the bag about and repeat as many times as necessary??

It could work. It could also end with a torn bag and sand everywhere.

 

[JoshH]

Half fill a bucket then put shower onto max force and shove in the bucket all through the sand, drain and repeat until it runs clear Altho you've already filled your tank with sand mark lol, good choice

 

[Fisses]

or as said, fill up half a bucket of sand, put in bath and blast it with the water, let it settle and you'll see the sand fall to the bottom and water on top, fill up very slowly and the water will run over the top and keep running till clear.

if sand starts to come out, stop and let it settle and try again.

im gonna be doing this on saturday as ive got some argos gift cards

 

[james morrisontoxic2]

i used a bucket and a shower hose ,boring job to do though

 

[DJ ArKaDaRkA]

could you not use an old pillow case and run water through that?

 

[OldMan47]

The pillow case won't work. You don't want to filter the water, you want to remove the mud and silt. In a pillow case it would just stick in the cloth, not get washed away.