Rinsing out sand

[wontonflip]

So when you rinse out new sand, what are you rinsing, exactly? When I was rinsing out my sand, I had a fish net ready to catch the floating splinters of driftwood. I'm on my 3rd rinse-and-sift, and the water is still getting pretty cloudy to where I can't see the sand.

I mean, am I rinsing until the rinse water is clear?? Or just to get the extra gunk like wood and dust off?

 

[Bifferwine]

It's basically to get the dust particles out. Those are the particles that are going to make your tank cloudy. But they're not gonna hurt anything, so just do the best you can, even if you can't get it clear, that's fine.

 

[wontonflip]

Thanks Biff :) I was sitting here hitting refresh over and over waiting for a reply...took you 4 minutes...not bad!!

My sand is in a tub right now. I'll probably rinse it out one more time for good measure.

 

[bjohanson1234]

Yeah biff has been slacking as of late. It used to take her only 2 minutes to respond to posts:mrgreen: But yeah it is just to make sure that the tank doesnt cloud up too much.

 

[dcantucson]

Yup ever since she moved into that new house of hers, she hasn't been worth a damn. Very selfish of you Biff. :mrgreen:

 

[Melosu58]

Sometimes I think no matter how much you rinse it the water will still be cloudy but not as much as if you didnt rinse it. One way I found to minimize the dust storm is to run the rinsed out sand down a piece of PVC to where you want it in the tank. Still a little cloudy but not as bad if you just threw the sand in there.

 

[yote]

When I rinse sand,I use a water hose on the outside faucet and run the water untill clear water is pouring over the sides.
Then whan I put the sand in the tank,I use those gallon size zip-loc bags.Just fill the bag with sand,slowly sink it in the tank and gently ease the sand out of the bag.

 

[daugherty]

thats what i do yout execpt i put the sand in the tank with a big cup then put my rock in the tank and pour the water over the rock or into a big bowl

 

[wontonflip]

I have no livestock in there at all..in fact, this will be the first bag I'll be putting in there. I think I'll do what Yote did. I was being so obsessive, that I was rinsing w/ rodi :) Yeah, so wasteful!!

 

[dcantucson]

I've done that wonton. Except I only did the final rinse with RODI. :)

 

[wontonflip]

Well, I did a test...I took a small container, filled it with 3 cups of sand or so, and did multiple rinses. each rinse and sand sifting I did, it did keep on having a cloud, but each time, I noticed the cloud settled a heck of a lot faster.

By the time I dumped those 3 cups into the tank, no clouds kicked up.

I've rinsed out my sand now, and it's in the tank. Pics to come on my build thread!