How you wash sand???

[harleyguy]

Believe it or not, I have never had to wash sand... I have always either used someone else's live sand or bought the live sand in the bag... Now I'm trying the Seachem Pearl Beach stuff and it has to be washed...

Please provide how you have gone about this task..

Thanks,

Shane

 

[glxtrix]

You can do that...although it usually takes longer than 20 min. I recently dumped a few pounds in a 5g bucket, added water, swished and drained...repeat several times. there is no "easy" way, and it does take a bit of time. I usually get lazy at the end and just do a few rinses, lol.

 

[hackman72]

Dawgdude's method except....using a 1 1/2 line at a concrete plant takes less than 5 min per bucket under moderate flow...he-he.

 

[harleyguy]

I'm already washing first bucket, and I think it's almost done.... Thanks Charlie

 

[skriz]

Washing sand is for sissies!

 

[rbredding]

I've heard both sides of it...

If you DONT wash the sand, what do you have to deal with? (I'm getting ready to get my 90 wet)

just the small particulates floating about/settling? cant you just siphon the sand after everything settles?

 

[weaglereefer]

Rbredding;421125 wrote: I've heard both sides of it...

If you DONT wash the sand, what do you have to deal with? (I'm getting ready to get my 90 wet)

just the small particulates floating about/settling? cant you just siphon the sand after everything settles?

Yeah, but if it's too much trouble to take a garden hose and stick it in a bucket, you might be in the wrong hobby...

Exceptions are, of course, if you have several hundred pounds of sand. I needed less than 40lbs for my 90 for a shallow sand bed (just enough to cover the glass) and still had enough sand left to use in my 10 and my 24.

 

[hackman72]

Rbredding;421125 wrote: I've heard both sides of it...

If you DONT wash the sand, what do you have to deal with? (I'm getting ready to get my 90 wet)

just the small particulates floating about/settling? cant you just siphon the sand after everything settles?

If you have enough to make it worth your while, we'll take it by the concrete plant and do it. It doesn't take long with the big hoses.

 

[weaglereefer]

dawgdude;421145 wrote: Well if you lightly rinse the sand, add the sand first and then add water after the sand is in then you wont have nearly the same issues as you would if you dump the sand into the water.

Til you get a sand sifting goby. The first week I had my white sleeper goby my tank looked like a snow storm as he churned the sand. Now that he's been in there a while, the water stays clear and he's still churning away.

 

[harleyguy]

Rbredding;421125 wrote: I've heard both sides of it...

If you DONT wash the sand, what do you have to deal with? (I'm getting ready to get my 90 wet)

just the small particulates floating about/settling? cant you just siphon the sand after everything settles?

I think it really depends on the sand... As I stated before the sand I used to use required no washing and the water cleared in a couple of days... The sand I am currently using... BAD... How Bad??? Well after a week the water still hadn't settled... I added a filter sock... No help. I turned off all the pumps and tried to siphon the super fine sand... Not really fesabale... So I ended up spending all day draining my tank, removing all the sand and washing it. I then had to wipe (what I can only describe as cement powder) down everything that water touched...

Please take my advice... Wash your sand... I've learned my lesson...

 

[rbredding]

OK, here's the next part of the equasion...

Seachem_Website wrote:
Unlike competing "wet" products marketed under the guise of being "live", Meridian™ is sold dry, thus you pay only for gravel and not for unneeded water. These products imply that they contain living, microscopic animals when in fact they only contain common bacteria. Dry or wet, there are bacteria on every substrate available.

so, does rinsing their sand damage/remove/etc. any of the "bacteria" that separates live sand from homedepot sand ...

for the record, I'm seriously thinking about putting in a sand drift, where the shallow sand will be about 3" and the drift will be 6"

 

[oz]

Harleyguy;421152 wrote: I think it really depends on the sand... As I stated before the sand I used to use required no washing and the water cleared in a couple of days... The sand I am currently using... BAD... How Bad??? Well after a week the water still hadn't settled... I added a filter sock... No help. I turned off all the pumps and tried to siphon the super fine sand... Not really fesabale... So I ended up spending all day draining my tank, removing all the sand and washing it. I then had to wipe (what I can only describe as cement powder) down everything that water touched...

Please take my advice... Wash your sand... I've learned my lesson...

Yeah, this Pearl Beach sand is INCREDIBLY dusty. More than any other sand I've seen. So the filter sock had no affect even after a week? Scary. So you tossed your saltwater?