# 3M Colorquartz sand



## SinisterKisses (Feb 24, 2004)

Does this stuff always leave a greasy film on the water? I'm in the process of rinsing out the first bucketful (figured bit by bit would be easier) and I've rinsed it a few times now...and it still leaves a film at the surface of the water. I'd been warned in advance that it was a pain to rinse, but this is nuts.


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## t0rns0ul (Dec 27, 2008)

i had the same issue, but it rinsed off pretty quickly..

It goes by faster if you dont leave it unattended. Instead keep pushing the hose down into the sand, use your hand from time to time to stir up the sand. When the bucket fills up with water, pour off the greasy water and repeat. I had three 50lb bags washed in about an hour


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## SinisterKisses (Feb 24, 2004)

That's exactly what I was doing, except instead of using my hand "from time to time" to stir it up, I was CONSTANTLY stirring it up as the water was flowing through it. Still took forever, I couldn't even be bothered to do the whole bag.


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## MalawiLover (Sep 12, 2006)

Mine had losts of dust in it, but nothing I would call greasy.


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## djoneser (Mar 20, 2008)

It took me more like 3 hours to do 150 lbs of the stuff, and make sure you have a dish glove or something on your hand(s) when you rinse it, or your hand will go black (or whatever color the substrate is). I had put like 20 lbs into a 5gallon bucket at a time, and used a small hand shovel to mix it around.


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## acrosstic (Mar 24, 2008)

It is a glass (Ceramic) coated Silica sand. So dust is very possible. Greasy doesn't make sense, it is probably just a hazy dust film that doesn't mix with water and gives the impression of greasy.

The glove is also useful, because without it, your wet hand+sand+time=worn hands.

I am getting some for my new 125, money permitting.


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## spotmonster (Nov 23, 2006)

Yes, it does make that GREASY film on the water. BUT, I had no such film in my tank, only in the buckets during rinsing.

What makes it quick and easy is to use the hose method. I bought a 4 ft hose with connectors on it, and hooked it to my faucet in my utility sink. Put the colorquartz half full in the bucket and ran the water directly in at full pressure. This made it much quicker and easy. And when added to my tank, there was zero film, and zero cloudiness.


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