cleaning sw establish sand for freshwater use

daniel89 · 06/02/2010, 11:23 PM

I have 260 lbs of live sand, well was live sand i drained the tank and filled it with fresh water and everything died. Anyhows i wanna use the sand over but in fresh water. How should i clean the sand to get all the dead stuff out? There is tons of worms and stuff and cenaped looking things in it with copepods and stuff.

daniel89 · 06/03/2010, 09:44 AM

anybody???

chrisp074 · 06/03/2010, 10:03 AM

You may very well not want to use the aragonite sand in fresh water due to it effecting pH and hardness depending on what you are keeping. I have never found cleaning old sand to be effective or cost efficent. For what regular old silica sand costs, which works just fine in most FW applications, new sand is a better way to go.

Allmost · 06/03/2010, 10:10 AM

you cant wash the organics off the sand bed.

what freshwater fish are you planning to keep ? if cichlids, or anything else that can live in higher PH then u may be able to, but I wouldn't recommend it.

contrary to belief though, DSB is freshwater works amazingly !

daniel89 · 06/03/2010, 10:12 AM

I dont have aragonite sand that you find in fish stores. I special ordered 280lbs of Caribbean sand which is the same size as beach sand. and its about 4 inchs and in my tank atm and i wanna keep a baby bass or something of that nature

Allmost · 06/03/2010, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daniel89

I dont have aragonite sand that you find in fish stores. I special ordered 280lbs of Caribbean sand which is the same size as beach sand. and its about 4 inchs and in my tank atm and i wanna keep a baby bass or something of that nature

well beach sand is aragonite. calcium carbonate, caco3

you can remove it, wash it, dry it by putting it on a large surface, then wash again and use to cycle ure freshwater tank, it will take a while to cycle though.

jchase1970 · 06/03/2010, 10:43 AM

just vac it out regularly like you clean freshwater gravel and it should be fine, freshwater game fish are very hardy.

06/02/2010, 11:23 PM	#1
daniel89 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: West Ashley, South Carolina Posts: 145	cleaning sw establish sand for freshwater use I have 260 lbs of live sand, well was live sand i drained the tank and filled it with fresh water and everything died. Anyhows i wanna use the sand over but in fresh water. How should i clean the sand to get all the dead stuff out? There is tons of worms and stuff and cenaped looking things in it with copepods and stuff. __________________ To have the power to hold and maintain a entire eco system and life itself and have it in your grasp is amazing and shouldn't be taken for granted, so don't screw it up cause then you will be compared to god and you don't want that. Current Tank Info: 125g Reef, 50g sump, vertex in180, 3 KORALIA 3's, mag 12 return, marineland 72" pro light fixture 3-150w MH 8 t5ho actinics

06/03/2010, 09:44 AM	#2
daniel89 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: West Ashley, South Carolina Posts: 145	anybody??? __________________ To have the power to hold and maintain a entire eco system and life itself and have it in your grasp is amazing and shouldn't be taken for granted, so don't screw it up cause then you will be compared to god and you don't want that. Current Tank Info: 125g Reef, 50g sump, vertex in180, 3 KORALIA 3's, mag 12 return, marineland 72" pro light fixture 3-150w MH 8 t5ho actinics

06/03/2010, 10:12 AM	#5
daniel89 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: West Ashley, South Carolina Posts: 145	I dont have aragonite sand that you find in fish stores. I special ordered 280lbs of Caribbean sand which is the same size as beach sand. and its about 4 inchs and in my tank atm and i wanna keep a baby bass or something of that nature __________________ To have the power to hold and maintain a entire eco system and life itself and have it in your grasp is amazing and shouldn't be taken for granted, so don't screw it up cause then you will be compared to god and you don't want that. Current Tank Info: 125g Reef, 50g sump, vertex in180, 3 KORALIA 3's, mag 12 return, marineland 72" pro light fixture 3-150w MH 8 t5ho actinics

06/03/2010, 10:43 AM	#7
jchase1970 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Newburgh, Indiana Posts: 409	just vac it out regularly like you clean freshwater gravel and it should be fine, freshwater game fish are very hardy. __________________ Tri-State Reef Club Serving the Indiana,Kentucky,Illinois Tri state area.

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06/03/2010, 10:03 AM	#3
chrisp074 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Aurora Il Posts: 351	You may very well not want to use the aragonite sand in fresh water due to it effecting pH and hardness depending on what you are keeping. I have never found cleaning old sand to be effective or cost efficent. For what regular old silica sand costs, which works just fine in most FW applications, new sand is a better way to go.

06/03/2010, 10:10 AM	#4
Allmost Moved On Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: canada, toronto Posts: 8,161	you cant wash the organics off the sand bed. what freshwater fish are you planning to keep ? if cichlids, or anything else that can live in higher PH then u may be able to, but I wouldn't recommend it. contrary to belief though, DSB is freshwater works amazingly !