Cleaning used sand?

Mikey Mane The Flare · Jul 30, 2018

so I recently moved and upgraded from a 55 to a 75. I used one new bag of sand (20 pound) and a few hand fulls from my 55 witch isn’t too old maybe a year and a half. Can I reuse the sand from my 55 if I wash it out with ro/di? Will this cause more problems than it’s worth? Iv watched videos of people washing sand in a bucket and dumping out the dirty water is this effective and not going to stress my reef? Just moved in yesterday

TheEngineer · Jul 30, 2018

You sure can! I wouldn’t wash it with RODI though. Use some old tank water. You just want to get the funk out as best you can but you don’t want to kill off the beneficial life in it.

Mark3 · Jul 30, 2018

I have had successful move of old sand....I put sand in 5 gal bucket and then the bucket in a Rubbermaid tub...wash the sand in the bucket with a garden hose, rinse and stir the sand in the bucket, most of the sand will eventually wind up in the larger tub, makes a sand trap so all your sand doesn't wash away,.... and wash and wash, and wash, until the water runs clear. You will think it will never run clear, but it does....might take about and hour of rinsing, but it does get to where it runs clear.
Then put the clean washed sand into the tank without the muddy tank syndrome...I have done this 4 times now with no problems from the sand....have had other issues, but not from the sand being washed.
I have about 5 inches of sand on a 72" x 18" bottom, ...it takes several batches and most of a day to wash it all, but to me, it's worth it.

Captain Quint · Jul 30, 2018

TheEngineer said:
You sure can! I wouldn’t wash it with RODI though. Use some old tank water. You just want to get the funk out as best you can but you don’t want to kill off the beneficial life in it.

+1 use some existing tank water and stir up all the bad juju and siphon brown/blackish old cud out. Repeat until clean then transfer.

Mikey Mane The Flare · Jul 30, 2018

Guessing could make up a few gallons for a small water change and use the tank water to clean it. I see people using water hoses but tap water doesn’t come near my tank! Even things I wash get rinsed off with RO befor they go back near the tank lol. Thanks guys I’ll see what I can do

Mikey Mane The Flare · Jul 30, 2018

Captain Quint said:
+1 use some existing tank water and stir up all the bad juju and siphon brown/blackish old cud out. Repeat until clean then transfer.

Do you think if the sand has been sitting in 1 inch of water for 24 hours it’s still ok?

TheEngineer · Jul 30, 2018

Mikey Mane The Flare said:
Do you think if the sand has been sitting in 1 inch of water for 24 hours it’s still ok?

Totally fine.

Mikey Mane The Flare · Aug 2, 2018

I have been slipping on this project.. I made the move Sunday and iv had all this sand in a bucket now with alittle water. Think it’s still safe to use?

cracker · Aug 2, 2018

I'd rinse "real , real " good with the water hose . sure you will lose some bacteria but will quickly come back to normal levels. Just drain as much of the tap water out & soak it in some old or new salt water. Iv'e done this with no problems I could see. Even with new sand live or not I rinse all the silt I can out before using !

there is a u tube I think where meleev cleans out his dsb refugium. He shows about it all.
Sorry I can't find it.

ca1ore · Aug 2, 2018

I wouldn't worry about preserving any 'life' at that point. Give it a thorough washing with the garden hose and then reuse it as dead sand.

mckinleyw · Aug 2, 2018

Totally fine. I have alot of old sand out of a 220 that i have stored in buckets for a couple years now. I run garden hose through sand stirring it until running clear and try to find any debris and get it out. Never had a problem. If worried about bacteria just add some in aquarium to boost population. Just my 2 cents.

alanbetiger · Aug 2, 2018

+1 rinsing with a garden hose and thinking of it as dead sand. Depends on your tap water situation, personally I leave it out in the sun to fully dry afterwards before using it encase there was anything in the tap water.