To rinse or not to rinse

[GhostKnife]

I am about to put my sand and base rock in the tank. I don't think I can rinse as my sand is too fine for my strainer. Is there a other way?

 

[melosu58]

Put in a 5 gallon bucket and fill about a 1/4 of the bucket with the sand and then put water in and swish around. Once the sand settles then pour off the cloudy water.

 

[AMDPhenomX4]

When i washed my sand i put it in a tub in the sink and ran water while agitating the sand until as clean as possible.

 

[GhostKnife]

okay mel i have my 5 gal... Of course i have that laying around... actually i have 8 of em... any ways I am going to rinse my sand like you said and pour out the cloudy water. I also am wondering. This is how I am going to set up my system. I am doing the sand and base rock tonight and figuring out my ro/di spectrapure system mon tues then start making water. If i rinse the sand it wont hurt it to sit out for a week or two will it? I can cover it with acrylic covers that of which i will not be using once started up. What are your thoughts.
thanks
Dave

 

[melosu58]

I dont know if I would let it sit out a week or so. Wait till you have your water going and then do it all at the same time. Maybe someone will think differently but I suggest getting the sand and rock in and then add water but I would not let it dry back out. JMO though.

 

[GhostKnife]

Okay... What would happen if I did not rinse the sand. I do not have a filter so the dust would settle when I do add the water. Right?

 

[melosu58]

Yes it will settle but instead of it settling in a few days I would imagine it would be a week or longer.

 

[ezy33]

Has anyone tried cheese cloth?

 

[roka64]

I have found that no matter how much you rinse you will still have a sand storm, the natural oceans have them from time to time as the larger particles and friction break them into smaller ones. I would still suggest Mike's method. I did it that way with 270Lbs of sand, rinsing each bag 6 times!!
I have not tried cheese cloth, maybe some one with experience can chime in....

 

[R6Chick]

Has anyone tried cheese cloth?

I have lined my colander with a double layer of cheese cloth to strain the water out of things like pumpkin puree and such. I don't see why it would not work just as well for even the finest sand.

When I get ready to put everything in my tank and fire it up I was planning on doing the cheese cloth/colander thing to rinse the sand. I will report back with my results when I do. I would not wait for me though, it is going to take a few months to get to the point where it is time to add water and cycle. I refuse to charge anything for my hobby so I have to put a few bucks away every paycheck to finance the setup.