What's the best way to rinse sand?

[danmhippo]

I have about 800 pounds of LS from the previous setup that I need to rinse detritus out. What's the best way of achieving this task? The sand is very much alive. But I need to get all the black/gray junks out of the sand before I can declare they are ready to be reused. Rinse them with saltwater is too costly. Does everyone think I can rinse them with Freshwater instead?

 

[mountainbiker619]

by chance do you have a old canister filter or pump. You can use that to rinse out the sand. Use the return to rinse it, and put the intake side the tub or bucket that you are rinsing the sand into, and there you have a complete cycle of water. Which should only take 5 gallons or so of salt water. Maybe use a spaghetti strainer with fine holes that the sand can go through, but not the particles you want to remove.

 

[madrefkepr]

Haven't tried it, but depending on how fine your sand is, you may be able to put a small amount at a time in some pantyhose, the rinse it. Don't think I would try freshwater though.

 

[mountainbiker619]

if you just want to rinse the sand, then a pillow case is what I have found to be the best. But danmhippo says that he wanted to remove some larger than sand stuff from the sand.

 

[HuBu]

spaghetti strainer

 

[Newts]

I would think that freshwater would kill the bacteria on the sand.

 

[Mac1]

Yeah, if you want the sand to remain "Live" sand, than I think you're going to have to rinse it in SW... Otherwise, an old salt bucket and the garden hose always worked great for me.

- Mac

 

[danmhippo]

Thanx folks. The sand is Southdown, very fine particle stuff. Spaghetti strainer may not work right as much of the fine grain sand will slip through. The detritus that I want to remove from the sand is the gray/black stuff that got stirred up when you disturb your sand bed. It's these organics that are seeds for more nitrates when I transferred these sand to the new system.

Pantyhose sounds right, and so is the pillow cover. It's just a chore when I think about that I need to clean all 800 pounds of them, and each batch I do requires more then 2-3 rinses..............

 

[mountainbiker619]

well, the fine holed Spaghetti strainer was so that the sand will go through, but the particles you want to remove will stay in the strainer. Ofcourse depending on how small the particles you wish to remove are.

 

[suckair]

>> follow my advice only if you want it to be dead sand again <<

I had a refgum problem several months ago and had to tear out 12" deep sand bed out of my 60g corner tank. I usualy take my sand in 5gal buckets 1/2 full and use a sprayer nozel and power wash the sand with fresh water "from the tap". It is amazing how much mud and brown stink comes out of a old sand bed. I then drain out the water "some will be behind" and put the sand back.

I have done this several times and it has worked well every time with no side effects. It washes out the sand well and lets you start over fresh. However it kills all your worms, bacteria, and goodies..

Randall

 

[Anonymous]

i would consider using a window screen. you could place it over a trashcan and use old SW and possibly siphon it down and over the screen washing the detritus through.

never done it, but would consider it.