Need to clean some sand

SirCharles77 · 12/02/2007, 05:53 PM

I bought a 120g tank from someone recently and it came with a good 2" of sand at the bottom but the person who owned it before didnt take good care of it.
The sand is a MESS!!
I want to "clean" the sand up a bit before I start the tank up again and am wondering if anyone has any suggestions as to the best practices for this. I was just planning on moving it into 5g buckets, filling it with water, stirring the hell out of it, and siphoning out the water. Rince and repeat a few times and call it good. Is there anything else I should consider?

PS. when I say a mess I mean a MESS. There were dead carcases of animals that were lost under rocks in it, tons of green algea, and it was in a very poorly maintained tank.

Thanks for any suggestions.

reeferman00 · 12/02/2007, 05:54 PM

i would say fill the tank and use the siphon vaccum thing and clean the sand with it.

demonsp · 12/02/2007, 05:55 PM

1

cpl40475 · 12/02/2007, 05:56 PM

id buy new if its that bad. you could possibly get some playsand and keep only a cup of the sand from the tank and re-seed it.
because if you wash it out you will be destroying most if not all benificial bacteria thats in it

SirCharles77 · 12/02/2007, 06:00 PM

so would it be ok to just clean teh sand once, then put it in buckets with no water and allow it to dry out and kill everything then just re-seed it and start over? Doesnt seem like there is much sense in throwing it away and getting new playsand.

Agu · 12/02/2007, 06:19 PM

From the sound of it I wouldn't use it as it is.

My method is to rinse the sand a half bucket at a time. If you have an RO/DI the waste water is perfect for this. Otherwise a garden hose and sprayer works fine.

The sand won't dry in buckets. I spread it out on a clean new tarp in the sun (but I'm in Fl) . A garage or basement with several fans works too.

Once it's dry the organics are also dry and will float to the top with a final rinse. I prefer to use RO/DI so I'm not introducing chlorine/chloramines and/or phosphates to the clean sand.

Once it's ready and in the tank additional crud will float to the surface, A fish net will easily remove and residual detritus.

Then seed it with some healthy live sand once the tank is up.

Good Luck and have fun.....

SirCharles77 · 12/02/2007, 07:02 PM

sweet that sounds like a good plan. Thanks for the help

12/02/2007, 05:53 PM	#1
SirCharles77 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 161	Need to clean some sand I bought a 120g tank from someone recently and it came with a good 2" of sand at the bottom but the person who owned it before didnt take good care of it. The sand is a MESS!! I want to "clean" the sand up a bit before I start the tank up again and am wondering if anyone has any suggestions as to the best practices for this. I was just planning on moving it into 5g buckets, filling it with water, stirring the hell out of it, and siphoning out the water. Rince and repeat a few times and call it good. Is there anything else I should consider? PS. when I say a mess I mean a MESS. There were dead carcases of animals that were lost under rocks in it, tons of green algea, and it was in a very poorly maintained tank. Thanks for any suggestions.

12/02/2007, 05:56 PM	#4
cpl40475 Just hanging out Join Date: May 2007 Location: ky Posts: 786	id buy new if its that bad. you could possibly get some playsand and keep only a cup of the sand from the tank and re-seed it. because if you wash it out you will be destroying most if not all benificial bacteria thats in it __________________ Im just a redneck in a city slickers lifestyle Current Tank Info: WORKING ON IT

12/02/2007, 06:00 PM	#5
SirCharles77 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 161	so would it be ok to just clean teh sand once, then put it in buckets with no water and allow it to dry out and kill everything then just re-seed it and start over? Doesnt seem like there is much sense in throwing it away and getting new playsand. __________________ Charles R. Current Tank Info: 105g display with 31g in sump, 9 snails, 4 Nassarius snails, 9 hermits, sand sifting star (5" dia),peppermint shrimp,blood red fire shrimp,Sailfin Tang, 2 Green Chromis,Bangaii Cardinalfish,True Perc Clown, Brown Zoa Polyps and Green Star Polyps

12/02/2007, 06:19 PM	#6
Agu Registered Member Join Date: Oct 1999 Location: Sarasota, Florida Posts: 30,279	From the sound of it I wouldn't use it as it is. My method is to rinse the sand a half bucket at a time. If you have an RO/DI the waste water is perfect for this. Otherwise a garden hose and sprayer works fine. The sand won't dry in buckets. I spread it out on a clean new tarp in the sun (but I'm in Fl) . A garage or basement with several fans works too. Once it's dry the organics are also dry and will float to the top with a final rinse. I prefer to use RO/DI so I'm not introducing chlorine/chloramines and/or phosphates to the clean sand. Once it's ready and in the tank additional crud will float to the surface, A fish net will easily remove and residual detritus. Then seed it with some healthy live sand once the tank is up. Good Luck and have fun..... __________________ Less technology , more biology . Current Tank Info: 30 gallon half cube and 5.5, both reef tanks

12/02/2007, 07:02 PM	#7
SirCharles77 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 161	sweet that sounds like a good plan. Thanks for the help __________________ Charles R. Current Tank Info: 105g display with 31g in sump, 9 snails, 4 Nassarius snails, 9 hermits, sand sifting star (5" dia),peppermint shrimp,blood red fire shrimp,Sailfin Tang, 2 Green Chromis,Bangaii Cardinalfish,True Perc Clown, Brown Zoa Polyps and Green Star Polyps

12/02/2007, 05:54 PM	#2
reeferman00 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: maryland Posts: 189	i would say fill the tank and use the siphon vaccum thing and clean the sand with it.

12/02/2007, 05:55 PM	#3
demonsp Moved On Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: el paso tx Posts: 7,634	1