Washing sand

[rvm]

Please excuse me as I'm a sand virgin!! I have just got a new tank (my third!!) and decided to take the plunge and go with a sand substrate. I'm washing it at the moment and the water doesn't seem to be geting any clearer!!!! Should the water run clear with sand, or is that just sand suspended in the water that i'm washing down the plug??!!!!

 

[heresmike]

What type of sand are you using? I used play sand, and rinsed 'til the water ran fairly clear. It took many rinses.

 

[rvm]

I only needed a small amount as it's only a 20g tank, so I just bought it from the LFS. I didn't want the light play sand. It's a fairly dark sand, but other than that; couldn't tell you!

 

[Jht]

it took me about 3 hours to clean 7.5g of sand imo its a lot harder to clean than gravel

 

[parker313]

How do you clean it? Put it in a bucket and just pour out water, fill and repeat?

 

[jxkim89]

When you put water in ur bucket, wash it like you wash rice

 

[Aquascaper]

The easiest way is to place the sand in a bucket in the bath, stick the showerhead into it and swirl it around. As the sand is waterlogged the showerhead moves quite easily through it. All the fine particles float over the edge of the bucket into the bath. It took me 30 minutes to do 15kg

HTH