Sand

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Greenphantom

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Aug 9, 2011
Messages
316
Location
Detroit MI
I think I am gonna go to home depot today and buy sand someone told me I could just use sand box sand and just wash it but how do I wash it and how much should I use I have a 120 gallon aquarium 2 foot wide 2 foot tall 4 foot long also how long should I wait to put the fish in after I put the sand in?
 
To clean it, put 2 gallons of sand in a 5 gallon bucket. Then spray it with a garden sprayer and churn the sand until the water fills to the top. Then pour the water out and repeat until the water you are pouring out is clear. Then I dump it in a lined trash can and let it dry. Then do it all over again with the next 2 gallons of sand. I would get 3 .5 cubic foot bags of sand for a 120 gallon. After putting the sand and water in the tank, I would wait for a few hours until the sand settles back down and then you probably could turn on your filter and add your fish.
 
Ok so I did it I went and bought 50 lbs of black sand and I washed it thoroughly and it seems to be clumping and floating is this normal? Also how long should I wait to turn the filters on
 
Ok so I did it I went and bought 50 lbs of black sand and I washed it thoroughly and it seems to be clumping and floating is this normal? Also how long should I wait to turn the filters on

Well, what kind of clumping and floating? Like, clumping after you've emptied the bucket, or the sand is clumping when water is in it? If it is after you've emptied the bucket, that's what happens to me, that's fine. And as for the floating, when I thought my sand was clean, I would fill it up and then see if the majority of the grains of sand that were floating would settle out in about 2 minutes. If they did, Then I knew the sand was very close if not clean, if it didn't settle out, then it probably wasn't sand, it was dirt and I had to keep washing. And you want to turn on the filter when absolutely all of the sand is settled. Some people say this can take as much as 1-2 days, although sometimes a few hours do the trick. You just really want it to be well settled so you don't get sand in your filter.
 
Greenphantom said:
I am surprised within about 20 mins half hour it was settled

Also my fish were so stressed they have been living in a tote for a week because my tank sprung a leak I lost one of my L333 plecos I just couldnt find him anywhere so I am really bummed about that but everyone else looks like they are gonna be ok with a little time but another thing that is worrying me is that all the water was removed and was wondering about the cycling thing I kept all media in filters wet and all decor un washed fingers crossed
 
Looks good, can I make a recommendation? You should put some type of background on the back of your tank, that way you won't see wires and it'll make your tank really pop
 
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