Different Question About Cleaning Sand

[ryanred5]

When I saw the cleaning sand topic I thought ooh someone is asking the same question as me but its a different one I want to ask.

I've got a bag of aquatic sand, I was told I had to clean it before you put it in my tank, but how do you do it?

I know I can't stick it in a collinder and rinse it, as the sand will fall through the collinders holes.

So what's the best way to clean the sand before putting it in my tank?

Thanks.

 

[5teady_2012]

Put it in a bucket and fill it water and swirl all the sound around with your hands, empty the water then repeat and repeat until the water is clear.

 

[rhostog]

Put it in a bucket and fill it water and swirl all the sound around with your hands, empty the water then repeat and repeat until the water is clear.

Agreed - note the 'repeat and repeat'!
Even with sand that seemed really clean to start with, we needed to do it several times before the water looked clear. Then when we added water to the tank, it still stayed cloudy for a couple of days - when I added some filter wool to the internal filter, this helped a lot to remove the fine particles.
Don't put too much sand in the bucket at a time.
It's worth the effort though, looks really good!

 

[ryanred5]

The only problem I've got is that I've got to change from one tank to another within a matter of hours.

So might it be better to put the Discus and tetras etc into the water I've saved in my new tank and not put the sand in just yet, so they can settle. What do you think is that a good idea?

Another question re the sand, is there anyway of making some kind of filter (I was thinking of a dishcloth in a collindars) and using water from our shower to clean it, or is that a daft idea?

 

[OldMan47]

Best way to do it is to go outside and use a garden hose with a bucket. Swirling the sand around with your hand and letting the dirty water run over the top until there is no dirty water makes a good start at getting the sand clean enough. The colander idea seems a poor way to go about it. Whatever you do to keep the sand from running through will also hold back a lot of the dirt that you want to remove.

 

[Ficious]

i agree with and prefer to use the buckent and garden hose. fill the bucket halfway or so with sand and leave the water running constantly. swirl your hand to get the "dust" out.


theres an easy way to add sand with fish in the tank already, ive done it a few times. i took a large glass and fill it with the sand..slowly bring the cup into the water and then pour it out onto the bottom. the tank doesnt even get cloudy