baking sand to ditch phosphates?

outy · 06/24/2006, 03:35 PM

i have a 1 year old 2" deep sand bed that i believe is laiden with phosphates due to a cuke dieng and causing a major slide in water quality as well as my ro/di filters were bad for the last 6 months. now i have HA and no matter how much waterchanges or lack of feeding i cant ditch it. lights are 8 months

can i do something to it to reguivinate it like baking.

i do plan on adding 3 more inches of fresh sand but i want the buffering quality of new sand

any help would be appriciated

Saltz Creep · 06/24/2006, 04:12 PM

You mean baking like as in an oven

TekCat · 06/24/2006, 05:12 PM

IMO just get new sand, and seed it with small amount of old sand. the rest just throw away.

outy · 06/24/2006, 07:02 PM

ya i know it sounds weird but id hate to throw sand out if i could eaily just get the phosphates out [i had some phos remover that could be rejuivinated by baking]

if i bleached it? would that get rid of phosphates?

sorry for all the questions but its a 100g [pretty costly] and i may just get the local cheap sand at the hardware store and i dont want to mix this in if phos will leach out

revclyburn · 06/24/2006, 07:43 PM

Truthfully I don't think that you can bake any phosphate
out of the sand, and how can you do that? Take the sand out, bake it,
put it back, just not worth it. If you keep up with the water changes, run some chemi pure and other things to reduce the phosphates. Also, cut back on feedings and watch what you feed as that can also leach phosphates into your tank. What do you have as a clean up crew? They can help with the hair algae. What do you have?

edwin

outy · 06/24/2006, 08:03 PM

im doing a tear down to move the tank so we can put new carpet in the living room

i have snails, crabs, and a cuke plus a fuge with no macro at the moment

this will all be restocked when i get the dsb in and the tank cleaned

my whole thought is that if a sandbed is like a sponge i want to clean this one instead of throwing it out

06/24/2006, 03:35 PM	#1
outy Moved On Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: auburn CA Posts: 4,021	baking sand to ditch phosphates? i have a 1 year old 2" deep sand bed that i believe is laiden with phosphates due to a cuke dieng and causing a major slide in water quality as well as my ro/di filters were bad for the last 6 months. now i have HA and no matter how much waterchanges or lack of feeding i cant ditch it. lights are 8 months can i do something to it to reguivinate it like baking. i do plan on adding 3 more inches of fresh sand but i want the buffering quality of new sand any help would be appriciated

06/24/2006, 07:43 PM	#5
revclyburn Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Neptune, N.J. Posts: 1,853	Truthfully I don't think that you can bake any phosphate out of the sand, and how can you do that? Take the sand out, bake it, put it back, just not worth it. If you keep up with the water changes, run some chemi pure and other things to reduce the phosphates. Also, cut back on feedings and watch what you feed as that can also leach phosphates into your tank. What do you have as a clean up crew? They can help with the hair algae. What do you have? edwin __________________ " In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God" Robert F. Kennedy Current Tank Info: One day I'll get it right. 55 Gallon, reef, softies, gorgorians, ricordia, EVENTUALLY!

06/24/2006, 04:12 PM	#2
Saltz Creep Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Hickville, FL Posts: 3,728	You mean baking like as in an oven

06/24/2006, 05:12 PM	#3
TekCat Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: MN Posts: 3,130	IMO just get new sand, and seed it with small amount of old sand. the rest just throw away.

06/24/2006, 07:02 PM	#4
outy Moved On Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: auburn CA Posts: 4,021	ya i know it sounds weird but id hate to throw sand out if i could eaily just get the phosphates out [i had some phos remover that could be rejuivinated by baking] if i bleached it? would that get rid of phosphates? sorry for all the questions but its a 100g [pretty costly] and i may just get the local cheap sand at the hardware store and i dont want to mix this in if phos will leach out

06/24/2006, 08:03 PM	#6
outy Moved On Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: auburn CA Posts: 4,021	im doing a tear down to move the tank so we can put new carpet in the living room i have snails, crabs, and a cuke plus a fuge with no macro at the moment this will all be restocked when i get the dsb in and the tank cleaned my whole thought is that if a sandbed is like a sponge i want to clean this one instead of throwing it out