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Cleaning old, dry, and now dead sand

itsacrispy

itsacrispy

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Hey all,

I picked up some old and dry sand a while back, and am trying to figure out what the best way to clean it would be. By the time I picked up the sand, it had been sitting out in the elements in several enclosed buckets for quite some time; maybe over a year.

That said, what would be the best way to clean out this sand and introduce it to my tank? Should I rinse with tapwater or RO? And should I "cook" it with some live sand before hand?

Suggestions appreciated!
Mike
 
OK, if it were me, I'd buy one of those big buckets, you know the ones with the rope handes that are usually full of ice and beer at a barbeque? I'd dump the sand in there and run a garden hose to it, this should help float out the dead things that are in there (bugs, leaves, etc) Depending on how well sealed the sand was, it probably doesn't have much crap in it, but might have some bugs and stuff. If this was from another tank, it's probably salty and if you put it in your tank without rinsing, it might cause some salinity issues.

Not sure how much more you'd have to do with it, I mean...they pull sand straight from beaches/quarries right?

I guess you could let it cycle in the big bucket. If you did a water change on your tank you could use the old water in the bucket and run a skimmer or filter on it?

V
 
Thanks Vince. I'll probably do what you suggested, I know the exact type of bucket you're talking about. What about decholorination? I figure I'd just let the tapwater run for several minutes, turn off the hose, dump in some Prime, and let the sand sit in the dechlorinated tap water for a bit before dumping out the water.
 
[quote author=itsacrispy link=topic=6275.msg79804#msg79804 date=1234222516]
Thanks Vince. I'll probably do what you suggested, I know the exact type of bucket you're talking about. What about decholorination? I figure I'd just let the tapwater run for several minutes, turn off the hose, dump in some Prime, and let the sand sit in the dechlorinated tap water for a bit before dumping out the water.
[/quote]

I wonder if you should let it sit for a bit in the tap water, maybe the chlorination will help kill off anything you don't want in the sand?

If it's chlorine and not chloramine, apparentlyt the chlorine will off-gas (whatever) and if you leave it long enough...though the Prime is a good idea.

When you're done with the bucket, don't forget to refill the ice and beer! :p

V
 
Hey I have a big black tub that's just about the size of the bucket things you're talking about. Feel free to borrow it. And I would pretty much just dump it all in the big bucket and then turn the hose on pretty strong. I usually give the sand a real good thorough rinse with tap, and then drain as much as possible and let it sit and dry for ~24hrs or so. Less if it's less sand, more if the sand is real deep.
 
sorry to sidetrack but if anyone is interested in a dead sand let me know. I have an old 40 gallon with about 8" of DSB that's sitting in my garage in Oakland. Free to anyone that wants to go through the labor of moving it into buckets.
 
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