washing the playsand

[ektorgt]

should i wash the playsand before putting it in my new tank???
if so... how???

tia

[haus]

Yes. Put some in a bucket and pour water in the bucket. When the water that is overflowing is clear, it should be clean enough. Stir it around a bit while you are washing it to get as much sediment out as you can.

[SkinnyPete]

If you can wait for the dust to settle, the small particles of sand can benefit your bio-filtration - I did not wash my 200+lbs of sand. Have not had any problems. I've read posts for and against washing, so its a preference thing.

- Skins

[spinman]

I put 2 bags in a Rubbermaid 20? gallon tub and filled with water. Tilted the edge of te tub so that the water would flow off the edge. Then proeceeded to move my hands inside the tub mixing the sand all around the water. All the while the hose was inside the tub keeping a continous flow. The cloudy water just flowed off the top edge of the tub. When I could start to see my hands thru the water (maybe 20 mins), those 2 bags of sand were ready for my tank.

It was fun, but my hands were a little raw after

Mike

[seaham358]

You will be washing all day if you stir, I did that the first time I used play sand it was useless.
When I set up my 55 I just poured it in the tank and the filled with water....
To avoid the sand storm when filling the tank cover the sand with plastic garbage bags and place a bowl in the tank and make sure all water going into the tank gets poured into the bowl.. after tank is full take out bowl and bag..

[ektorgt]

thanks everyone~!!!

alright seaham, so should i not wash the sand at all????

[mjvincent]

Originally Posted by SkinnyPete

If you can wait for the dust to settle, the small particles of sand can benefit your bio-filtration - I did not wash my 200+lbs of sand. Have not had any problems. I've read posts for and against washing, so its a preference thing.

- Skins

Ditto, I didn't rinse my sand either, it is purely preference.

[seaham358]

you can if you want but I did not see a benifit from doing it and you will never get all the fine particles out of the sand. So IMO it was a waste of time.