# Got my sand...



## Dominateprimate (Aug 27, 2011)

Alright, i got my sand. It's 150lbs of quickrete play sand; i know this may be a littld too much sand but i got this amount just to be safe. I'm planning on putting sand, rock, and water in this tank on saturday, the rocks have been soaking for 2 days now and im going to let them soak overnight again. I've never done this much sand before and was wondering of any of you could tell me how to wash it? Thanks.


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## newforestrob (Feb 1, 2010)

I just finished washing all purpose sand,actually a few weeks ago,I tried putting a quarter of the bag in a pail with my shower head,while turning the sand,it was taking forever,I then tried a couple cups at a time,believe it or not,this was alot faster,when the container was clear,I dumped it into a five gallon bucket,it still took over an hour though,for a 50 lb bag


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Small quantities in a bucket. Let the hose run 15 minutes or longer if its not running clear. Make sure you warm it to 78 degrees before you place it in the tank.


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## Dominateprimate (Aug 27, 2011)

do i still need to heat the sand even though it's a new tank? i mean it doesnt have water, rock, filters, anything in it yet.


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## zimmy (Aug 13, 2010)

Dominateprimate said:


> do i still need to heat the sand even though it's a new tank? i mean it doesnt have water, rock, filters, anything in it yet.


No you don't have to worry. The warning about bringing the sand to the right temperature is only to ensure you don't have a sudden change in water temperature and stress fish in the tank (if you have fish in the tank).


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## CITADELGRAD87 (Mar 26, 2003)

You don't need to heat it on a brand new tank, just make sure whatever is going on it's warm by the time the new tenants move in.

I washed my sand years ago by pouring it into a bucket about 1/4 full with sand, then plunged a hose in and worked it until the water was clear. When it ran clear, I switched to a new bucket, until I was out of sand. Long story, I was not near my tank when I did this, so you could just dump it in the tank when it's clear.

It takes forever with this method. So long that I would gladly find any other method to speed it up, try the smaller batch mentioned above.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

When are you adding water and heater? If it will be days, NP. I usually assemble my tank all at once adding substrate and water on the same day. Why let the heater do all the work of raising the temp when you can do your final rinse with warm water?


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## Dominateprimate (Aug 27, 2011)

okkay, if it's that simple i can i just didn't know if it was like some complicated ordeal :lol:


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## Unclescanner (Sep 23, 2011)

I watched the video on the forum about how to clean sand, I mean I cleaned it til it ran clear and this cleaned it some more. I am using quickcrete playground sand 100 lbs in 75 gallon. I have an emporer 400 running with 50 micron pure flow sheets in the media containers behind the carbon inserts in an attempt to catch suspended particles. So will this eventually settle down ? Or am SOL....? :-?


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## DFishFox (Sep 27, 2011)

I've been using beach sand for 4 years now. I just put the sand in the tank using strainers or very small shovel to scoop a little and spread toss it around looking for debris. Then pour water in all over it intentionally stirring it up, filling only about 4 inches of water over the sand. Then water change, only after the first pour i put a plate on the sand to prevent further stirring and pour water over the plate. Repeat like 5 - 6 times and final fill shouldn't be very cloudy but With good filtration very cloudy water can go away in a couple days.

I've also put sand in without any "washing" (course with beach sand I ran the risk of contaminants) 
Just filled couples inches deep worth of sand pat down then lay plate or tray then pour water for one time fill. << This way was most effective for avoiding ANY cloudy water


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## k19smith (Sep 6, 2005)

I just set up a new sand tank last night, please shoot me it was a disaster. I've been buying play sand at lowes you just rinse that stuff for 2-3 min and it's ready to go in a tank. I always wondered why people were having such a hard time washing sand I just didn't get it. Well I picked up play sand from home depot cause that's where I happened to be at, it took me every bit of an hour to wash one bag of the nasty stuff I went away and left the garden hose running in a bucket in my yard, put it in my tank which is very cloudy now. I don't know the brands but I will look. Never again will I buy sand at home depot. I'm quite mad all the water I wasted I coulda bought 10 bags of good sand.


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## Jarrods (Sep 11, 2011)

I found that filling and pouring off, filling and pouring off, works better than just leaving the hose running. Pouring off helps to tip out the offending silt the doesn't rise up with the hose.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Oh you have to prop the hose so it stays against the bottom of the bucket and the sand is swirling up from the bottom of the sand for the entire 15 minutes.

Also good if you change the position of the hose occasionally to swirl a different section of the bucket.


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## Unclescanner (Sep 23, 2011)

washed my sand in buckets, swirled it with my hand, let it runoff for 15 to 30 minutes swirled it, poured it by hand again before putting it in the aquarium this would have been on the 25th of Sept. I put water in the tank with very little agitation of the sand. I started seeing it clear up on the 29th only after adding pure flow 50 micron pad in my emperor 400 media tray. Today is the 1st and it looks good from the front and sides.


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## ivanmike (Jun 15, 2003)

A secret to getting rid of the fine particles is to run a sponge filter with a powerhead, or slipping a sponge over the intake of a HOB or canister filter.

My favorite are the tetra PHAS filters, but i think they are D/C. In any event, someone makes a cylindrical sponge filter that looks quite like the tetra one.

FWIW, this clears up just about any form of cloudy water. I use my old PHAS filters with AQ 402 powerheads on many tanks - some must be close to 20 years old!


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## jrl2112 (Jul 6, 2011)

For my first time using sand I used Quikrete PFS from Home Depot. My water was crystal clear immediately. I guess considering how much trouble some of them can be initially this sand is pretty good.


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## Clink51 (Aug 4, 2011)

*jrl2112*

+1

I just used sand for the first time for my Tang Tank (Saying 'Tang Tank' outloud is funny). I used the Quickrete play sand from Home depot because i couldnt find the PFS without added chemicals in NYC (Not to many pools in urban environment)

Needless to say its a pain to clean and honostly i gave up half way through, i had to cycle the tank anyway so i didnt stress it. what i did was put the sand in, turned on the heaters and every few hours go scoop out the floating sand with an extra net. after about 24 hours of cloudy water i turned on the filters with panty hose wrapped on the intake and all was good =) :thumb:


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