aquarium sand; how to clean

[sanweaver]

I need some quick advice on how to clean the sand before I put it into my tank. I'm changing the current gravel out.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Put in a small bucket with a hose. Let the water overflow the bucket and swish the gravel around with your hand. With gravel you can swish around faster, but with something like pool filter sand, if you swich too hard, the sand will overflow out of the bucket.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Let the water overflow until it comes out clear. If it is cloudy, you'll just be dumping dust into the tank.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Let the water overflow until it comes out clear. If it is cloudy, you'll just be dumping dust into the tank.

I forgot that, yes, let it run til it's clear. Thanks for catching that....

 

[7Enigma]

Do as recommended above, then clean it again. Trust me on this one. I cleaned it until I thought it was great (about 45minutes of straight agitation and water changes for 45lbs), then dumped it in the tank and the next couple of days I was having to PWC because it was still cloudy. I don't know if I got a bad batch of PFS (it did have a bit of water at the bottom since the pool shop had it stored outdoors), or what, but an extra 10minutes of cleaning now, might just save you hours of frustration later!

 

[DeFeKt]

once you've got it in your tank, I also run the hose into the tank while draining it at the same time. provided you have no fish of course. and it's a fine line to get the right flow so you can leave it sit for a few hours.

 

[magnaflow]

I just change my sand on the weekand I used number 2 silica sand looks good and is easy to clean becuase its very coarse