Separating Gravel from Substrate

[TGOATW]

I want to reuse the substrate from my old tank, and in doing so i mixed the gravel and substrate. The larger pieces i can separate but the substrate i bought are little pellets of dirt.
They have roughly the same size and same buoyancy.
Is there no other way but to hand pick them?

 

[Naughts]

I would be inclined to throw it away and buy new.

Is there no other way but to hand pick them?

I can't think of one...

 

[Uberhoust]

There are a few ways of separating the various sizes of sand and gravel but by the time you get the equipment you could have purchased new sand.

If you are still inclined to try it yourself you could get a sieve of the right mesh size. I have made my own but sourcing the mesh material of the right size can be difficult. Alternatives include soil sampling sieves, these tend to be more expensive, or gold panning sieves, cheaper and larger but exact opening sizes might be a bit off. Search amazon with soil sieve or gold panning classifier for examples. You will have to use some water to help run the sand gravel mixture through the sieve.

 

[seaweeds]

If it's sand and gravel, you can use a net but if it's larger size substrate, it's better to buy new and save time.

 

[FranciscoB]

A dedicated (to your aquarium) kitchen sieve can achieve the goal well and inexpensively, particularly if the goal is just to separate in two size fractions: “sand” versus “gravel”. That is, grain size we refer to as sand, versus everything larger than that.

In aquarium parlance those are relatively clear names, but in geology there are more specific size ranges to what is called sand or gravel, with some overlap.