Rinse Seaflor Special Grade Reef Sand?

[thbrewst]

Getting ready to set-up a new tank and have 3 40# bags of this stuff. Since it is not super fine should I rinse it or just put it in?

Don't ind risning if I need to, but I certainly don't want</em> to if there is little/nothing to gain.

Thanks

 

[weaglereefer]

Rinse!!!

 

[thbrewst]

Think I can rinse it all at once? Its (obviously) pretty heavy all together.

I read people strategy for rinsing with a hose, but all of those posts seemed to be with like one 40# bag...

 

[weaglereefer]

I did mine in 20lb increments. Doesn't take but about 5min per. Get a bucket or large container, pour half a bag in, stick the hose in and keep swishing it around til the water overflowing the bucket is clear. Maybe get some music playing or something, and another bucket to sit on.

 

[gnashty]

au01st;549491 wrote: I did mine in 20lb increments. Doesn't take but about 5min per. Get a bucket or large container, pour half a bag in, stick the hose in and keep swishing it around til the water overflowing the bucket is clear. Maybe get some music playing or something, and another bucket to sit on.

+1 - I am working on getting 80 lb of the same stuff rinsed. I rinsed in 10 lb increments about 5 times of filling up the bucket and pouring off the milky water..I added 15 lb or so (doing it slow) and it still clouded my tank for a day - I will rinse the rest 10 times or more

 

[thbrewst]

Sounds like a plan. Also sounds like it is worth it.

Many thanks as always...

 

[misu]

I dumped it all in a brute and left the hose in there for a while. When water was getting clear I would mix it up a bit with my hand.

Added the sand at 4pm today and it was milky and foamy as hell now (5 hr later) it's all cleared up with the help of the filter socks.

 

[zippgirlrn]

Yes, indeed. I rinsed mine good and my tank cleared up faster than it ever had. So the better you rinse it the faster it will clear up, and as the previous post said less foam in the tank.

 

[kayakatl]

I rinsed mine for ever... and ever... and ever... Great stuff, but rinse the heck out of it. I had to do it in a bath tub seeing as I was in an apt at the time.

 

[thbrewst]

BTW, even though it looks like I don't have a tank to put it in (long story) I did rinse this stuff and am glad I did. The water coming out of the bucket looked like skim milk for at least 5 rinse rounds each. I was filling the bucket and then agitating the substrate with my hands for a couple of mins and then pouring out the water and doing it again. The water never got totally clear, but significantly better.

Anyway, just thought I would spin this one back around in case anyone is thinking of not rinsing.

 

[moebious]

I did three 22 lb bags of meridian yesterday. I wasn't counting how many times i rinsed it, but it took forever. My asphalt driveway now has a white streak. One piece of advise... don't grind it.

 

[jbadd99]

Check out my build thread (link below) for a horror story on not rinsing...

Goby is still stirring the silt up and clouding up the tank, although not as badly these days.

 

[thbrewst]

Yeah, I never really made it to a point where the water was literally clear when I was rinsing it. I am almost wondering if I should do it again (I just really don't want to ;&gt; )

 

[nimrod107]

It's worth it in the end to take the time to rinse it because once everything is in your tank you won't take it out and probably be kicking yourself once you see how long it takes the tank to clear up not that I've experienced this before or anything...

 

[silveradositn]

yeah it need to be rinsed it will make a very bad sand storm