Cleaning sand, aggregate, and dry rock

91mini · 07/04/2012, 05:39 PM

I bought a used tank that came with rock and sand in an established FOWLER. I bought this tank about 6 months ago and the sand and rock have been sitting on the back porch like you see in the picture below. I plan to use all the rock and some of the sand. I will replace some of the sand with 1 bag of live sand and get a few pieces of live rock to add to it as well as some live rock rubble in a 30G refugium. Not sure is I will put live sand in the refugium yet. Still doing my research on that.

What do I need to do to properly prepare this sand and rock for a new tank?

bobparker · 07/04/2012, 05:58 PM

I'd rinse all of it, set up the tank and cycle it. The chances of some sort of parasite or bacteria making it through the cycling is slim to none. Just monitor your parameters and maybe a tds test.

91mini · 07/07/2012, 04:29 PM

How would I rinse the sand and aggragate? I'm thinking I'll lose all the sand if I rinsed it. I may just need to buy 2 bags of live sand.

07/04/2012, 05:39 PM	#1
91mini Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 278	Cleaning sand, aggregate, and dry rock I bought a used tank that came with rock and sand in an established FOWLER. I bought this tank about 6 months ago and the sand and rock have been sitting on the back porch like you see in the picture below. I plan to use all the rock and some of the sand. I will replace some of the sand with 1 bag of live sand and get a few pieces of live rock to add to it as well as some live rock rubble in a 30G refugium. Not sure is I will put live sand in the refugium yet. Still doing my research on that. What do I need to do to properly prepare this sand and rock for a new tank?

07/04/2012, 05:58 PM	#2
bobparker Independent thinker Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: fletcher, n.c. Posts: 273	I'd rinse all of it, set up the tank and cycle it. The chances of some sort of parasite or bacteria making it through the cycling is slim to none. Just monitor your parameters and maybe a tds test.

07/07/2012, 04:29 PM	#3
91mini Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 278	How would I rinse the sand and aggragate? I'm thinking I'll lose all the sand if I rinsed it. I may just need to buy 2 bags of live sand.