Changeover To Sand

[M4R13Y]

Have recently moved my aquarium to my new house. I gave the glass a full clean. I haven't put the gravel in meaning my tank has a bare bottom. I will be getting some pool filter sand today.

Any tips recommendations or ideas on adding sand substrates to my tank.

 

[copps321]

Just clean the sand before hand and even after you clean it you will probably still get some coudy water when you add it

 

[M4R13Y]

What's the best way to go about cleaning it

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Probably by just rinsing it heaps.
I think some people just fill a bucket with the sand then just leave a hose running. I'm not sure if they do it for sand but I know most do that with gravel. 
Hope this helps

 

[M4R13Y]

Thanks great help
I think I'm going to go down the route of sort of pressure washing the sand in a bucket

 

[RCA]

Be careful of "pressure washing" the sand or you will loose a lot of it.  What I tend to do is use a small bucket and then have the tap running whilst stirring the sand, the water then overflows to enable the dirt to go down the drain.  You can put the small bucket inside a larger bucket so that any sand that "escapes" will be caught in there.  Periodically, after stirring let the sand settle, then pour off the water and muck once the sand has settled.

 

[Metka]

Sand is definitely the way to go. You can safely use any sand that is "safe for children" in the UK. I personally picked up a 15kg bag of Childrens Play sand from Argos for £2.99. Perfect.
 
Fill a bucket about 2/3 with sand, then pump a hose rigorously through it. Anything that floats or doesn't settle quickly, pour it away. You should be very strict with the sand that you put into the tank - any that looks like its just floating in the bucket will do the same within the tank.
 
I lost about 1/8 of all the sand I bought doing this, but after 24 hours the sand had completely settled and looked spot on - all for the costly sum of £5.98 (2x bags).

 

[the_lock_man]

What I do with sand is to punch a few holes in the bag, stick the garden hose in through one, and turn it on. Just make sure the bag is wedged upright, as I had a nice pile of black sand on my patio, where the bag fell over.

 

[M4R13Y]

I will be using pool filter sand as I thought it would be inert as not to mess with a swimming pools water chemistry

 

[mike455555]

all sand needs to be washed no matter where its from (unless its from a tank up and running already, or has already been washed) 
 
best way is to have 2 buckets on go.
 
and as metka said fill it about 2/3 full and then put the hose in, i then swap the hose into the second bucket and by the time thats almost fill i empty the first, and repeat it until it settles in 10 secs 

 

[DoubleDutch]

Perfect stuff. Use it in all my tanks !!!! Oxyginrich-water can always in, so roots aso won't be starting to rot. Corys love it as well !!!