Washing Sand

[drooke]

Hi all,

In the next couple of weeks I'm hoping to change my pea gravel for sand. This might sound like a daft question but how do i wash the sand without losing half of it down the drain?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Loops]

Put the sand in a bucket, run tap fast over it while swirling it round, water about half bucket full, WAIT for sand to settle before pouring the water away slowly, repeat this until the water is clear that you pour out.

For sand sufficent for our 35L tank it took 20 times of the above

 

[pippoodle]

put mine in an old pillow case to wash it

 

[JenCliBee]

Fill bucket half full and just leave a hose running in it and swirl around every so often...saves you sitting at the bath for an hour lol

 

[drooke]

thanks for the tips everyone, I will try your techniques out and hopefully find one that works for me

 

[Fisses]

chuck it all in a bucket, then in the bath blast it with cold water, then turn the tap off and leave for a few seconds so the big sand stays at the bottom then pour out water but stop just before the sand comes out, and repeat and repeat and repeat again and eventually you'll get to the point where as you blast it with cold water you will see the big sand particles immediately drop to the bottom of the bucket and the water will be pretty dam clear! dont forget to swirl it round with your hand every now and again, but might be worth using some hot water too as your hand goes freeeeezinnngg!

best of luck

 

[Inchworm]

I wash small batches of sand in a dishpan, under running, lukewarm water. I just swirl it around with my hand until the silt rises and then spill the water off. I repeat that until the water runs clean. It's a relaxing thing to do and it leaves my hands nice and soft as well.