crushed coral

[JohnVH]

An old friend of mine gave me 80lbs of crushed coral and 60lbs of his old rock that he used to have in his tank before he had to tear it down. The rock and substrate have been dormant and dry for a couple of years. I saw on another post that bleaching and scrubing the rock then repeating rinses with dechlorinated water until there is no odor from the bleach, is this acceptable? Currently I have the rock soaking in RODI water.


The crushed coral has the consistancy of very fine sand is it common to have crushed coral that fine for substrate, I was planning on using sand but I was given the coral. What would be a good way to clean the crushed coral. As I had mentioned the crushed coral is just like very fine sand there are no large jagged pieces. I had asked him if he was sure it was coral because it looks like sand. I looked online and could not find coral sand as fine as the sand I got from my friend.

 

[Bifferwine]

If it looks like sand, then it's probably sand. I wouldn't re-use someone's old substrate. It can have all sorts of crap in it. It is easier to just buy new. If you are going to reuse it, then wash a little bit of it at a time in a bucket with a hose, rinsing until it runs clear. Then add some dechlorinator/tap water conditioner to it. As I said, this can be a hassle and can take a long time!

 

[Smitty]

+1 Biff.

 

[Ulta]

Yup, I have washed sand before... It took me a couple hours to do 2x 5gal buckets full... >_<

Like biff said put a little bit in the bucket at a time and spray it good with pressure and keep pouring it out until the water starts pouring out clear every time. Then that little bit is done and you do it again for the next little bit >_<!