Re-use sand or not

[nly04]

I'm still debate between bare bottom and sand. I still have two 7gal buckets of old sand that I tried to clean but still look dirty. Do you recommend to use old sand? Will it have nitriate and phosphate problem? How to clean used sand to make it look clean as new dry sand? Or the best is go with new sand?

 

[HiFidelity]

A. take old sand & a home depot bucket
B. pour sand into home depot bucket & fill half way
C. take bucket outside & stick hose in it, run water so that sand tumbles but does not overflow out of bucket, let water run till it runs clear
D. fill bucket with RO water and let sit for a little while
E. Drain & ready for use

If you want to reuse your old sand that is...

 

[euod]

+1. I do exactly that.

 

[nly04]

I did that but it only take couple minutes to get to the point that water is overflow and sand still dirty. It waste a lot of water but sand still brown-ish.

 

[HiFidelity]

to tell you the truth, if it was me I'd just buy new sand... the amount of time/energy/water going into reviving old sand simply isn't worth it.

 

[bee505]

I'm also in the same boat as you. I have to transfer tanks soon. Planning to buy 5-6 bags of 20lb sand for my 130 gal to avoid headaches down the road.

 

[nly04]

Cool. I will go with either new sand or bare bottom.

 

[xcaret]

I'd say save your sand, don't re-use it. A good rinse will take care of cleaning the sand of x-crap.
Paint stores have large fine nets to filter paint, you can place the sand in the net, rinse it then let it dry under the Cali Sun.