dirty sand please help

[tmdavies]

hello i have my first 55 gal coming tommorow and im putting sand in it, so im trying to clean it today.
Im TRYING to clean 6kg's of sand at a time but its going nowhere i have 25kg's of the stuff to wash.
At the moment im filling a bucket half full with sand then filling with water and giving it a good mix around, then i let it settle and pour away the dirty water and repeat. only thing is i cant even get my first bucket clean let alone the 10 i have.
does anyone have any tips please help

 

[mfdrookie516]

insert water hose in the bottom, secure, come back in 30 minutes....


or... use a pillow case under the shower.

 

[tmdavies]

so i fill a massive bucket put a hose in and the **** falls out the top leaving clean sand in bottom?

 

[Mr. Limpet]

so i fill a massive bucket put a hose in and the **** falls out the top leaving clean sand in bottom?

I use the pillow case/shower head method and it works great, no sand loss and fine dust is gone pretty quickly.

 

[tmdavies]

thanks guys

 

[tmdavies]

how long do you do the pillow case under the shower for?

 

[Mr. Limpet]

how long do you do the pillow case under the shower for?

Depends on how much sand is in the pillow case and if it's the top of the bag or bottom. Top sand cleans out in 10 minutes or so (not a lot of dust), bottom of the bag takes 20+ minutes because the fine dust settle to the bottom of the bag.

 

[tmdavies]

YouTube - How to clean new aquariumsand the easy way.

Anyone tried this? looks pretty cool

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Anyone tried this? looks pretty cool

I've seen it and it's great for adding sand to an established tank, but IMO it doesn't get rid of the fine dust from a fresh bag of PFS.

 

[ejaramillo01]

I've seen it and it's great for adding sand to an established tank, but IMO it doesn't get rid of the fine dust from a fresh bag of PFS.

On top of that, Now imagine to do it for a 100G tank !!!

 

[tmdavies]

what about if i cover my bath with a bed sheet then pour all the sand in the bed sheet and use the shower head?

 

[Mr. Limpet]

what about if i cover my bath with a bed sheet then pour all the sand in the bed sheet and use the shower head?

Are you thinking laying the sheet out, pour sand and then pulling the corners together to make a bag of sorts, then rinsing thru the sheet? Something like that should work I guess, just becareful that not too much goes down the drain would be my only concern. That and if you go to lift the sheet up with lots of wet sand "bagged up", that it might tear.

 

[tmdavies]

didnt realise how much work sand was lol

 

[Mr. Limpet]

didnt realise how much work sand was lol

Hehe... It's actually easier for me than when I rinsed 50lbs of Petco gravel. A pillow case is really the way to go, or something similar IMO/E.

 

[tmdavies]

tried drookies bucket way and it works fine should have just done that in the first place lol

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Cool . As long as it works is the point lol. I had horrible luck with it, so I don't recommend it.

 

[Desastre]

I used river crystal sand from my lfs and it was pretty clean to begin with one or two rinses and it was good to go for my 55g. It was best money ever spent

 

[jetajockey]

i rinse all of my sand and clay substrate in a 5g bucket, never had any real issues.