Cleaning sand for re-use

[m@nateemarshall]

Hi all. New to ARC and have a question that some of you may be able to help with.

I have taken down a 46gallon aquarium and plan to clean and start it up again as a reef tank. I have about 1/2 of a Home Depot bucket filled with sand that I’ll need to clean out (detritus, red algae, erc).

What have you found is the best way to clean and prep for re-use at a later date?

thanks for the help.

 

[Steve Burton]

 

[m@nateemarshall]

Very helpful and somewhat different approach than I would have used, thank you.

 

[billyocean]

Keep washing it until you can stir the sand and the water is crystal clear. This takes hours FYI. Then last rinse in RO. You can use some prime as well just in case. By crystal clear I mean snowglobe clear.

 

[picoreefguy]

Agreed, rinse and stir until the water is crystal clear. I also like to use peroxide at the end and let it sit for a while after stirring the peroxide in. It kills pretty much anything living in the sand and it breaks down into water and oxygen on its own if left out in light so it ends up being safe. If you plan on using it right away after using peroxide give it one last rinse to flush out any unreacted peroxide out of the sand.

 

[Adam]

Agreed, rinse and stir until the water is crystal clear. I also like to use peroxide at the end and let it sit for a while after stirring the peroxide in. It kills pretty much anything living in the sand and it breaks down into water and oxygen on its own if left out in light so it ends up being safe. If you plan on using it right away after using peroxide give it one last rinse to flush out any unreacted peroxide out of the sand.

Or just leave what's left after draining. That amount h2o2 will not hurt anything in a brand new system. Just wait a day before adding bacteria.

 

[chemaholic]

Could also spread the sand out in a large Rubbermaid after you rinse it well and put it out in the sun for a week or so. Sunlight is an amazing disinfectant. I have done that with several things I washed and cleaned for my tank.

 

[m@nateemarshall]

Keep washing it until you can stir the sand and the water is crystal clear. This takes hours FYI. Then last rinse in RO. You can use some prime as well just in case. By crystal clear I mean snowglobe clear.

Thanks! Appreciate the comment about RI rinse and prune to tray for chlorine!

 

[Sun1914]

Why reuse old sand? For $100 or so you can get a couple bags of new sand and avoid a large amount of headaches.

 

[Reefplumber13]

Why reuse old sand? For $100 or so you can get a couple bags of new sand and avoid a large amount of headaches.

Done right you won't have any headaches and you will have $100 to spend on something else

 

[Steve Burton]

Done right you won't have any headaches and you will have $100 to spend on something else

I re-use lots of stuff like sand, rock, frag racks, frag plugs, etc. A dollars worth of bleach, a slight bump on the water bill, maybe a dab of de-chlorinator if I don't have time to sun dry.

 

[billyocean]

Why reuse old sand? For $100 or so you can get a couple bags of new sand and avoid a large amount of headaches.

You should really rinse new sand the same way...it will stop any clouding in the future.

 

[Sun1914]

You should really rinse new sand the same way...it will stop any clouding in the future.

I've personally never rinsed new sand but I've also never just dumped water into the tank in hopes of avoiding the cloudy water.

I'm not debating or negating anyones decision to reuse sand, your tank, your build, your $$. I'm just feel it isn't worth the headache and effort...ESPECIALLY if the previous build has issues. Just start a new.