Is old abandoned sand still safe to use in Malawi tank?

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Greetings all, this is my first post here and I have a question about the sand I used in my tank (that looked really nice) before I moved. The tank I a tall slim tank that I acquired from a friend. After I changed most of the pipe work to the sump, I decided to buy some nice white sand to make the bottom of the tank look nice for the Cichlid fish I ended up buying. Long story short we moved and as I emptied the tank I noticed a foul smell coming from some old bulk heads that were not being used anymore. They were at the bottom of the tank and had been filled with the sand and probably detritus. I set the tank back up but was reluctant to add the sand as I could only remember the foul smell. The sand was left in our basement for over a month and as it sat there I started to miss the cichlids digging and playing around in it. I’m now halfway through cleaning it with tap water and planning to return some back into tank. I placed air bubblers in the bulk heads and I plan to keep those two corners sand free. As I’m cleaning it I have noticed no bad smell from opening up the tub but I have seen a few snail shells. I read some people use bleach to clean sand I really don’t think bleach and fish sound like a good safe idea no matter how well it’s rinsed so need confirmation if anyone has been down this route before. The sand I’m using is silica or quartz sand I cleaned it really well before putting it in the first time and that took forever, this time I will only add around half of it if it cleans up ok. Thanks for any help be it links to other threads or even a ‘stop being such a dummy!’ and follow these steps message. Don’t go easy on me for being a newbi, I’m thick skinned. Thanks again for reading my thread.
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Jekyl

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Welcome to R2R! Others on here are more knowledgeable than I am with freshwater. With saltwater a good rinsing usually does the trick. I have not seen anyone talk of bleaching sand. If you do go that route after the bleach bath, rinse it well then soak in fresh water for a few days and allow the rest of bleach to gas out. This is something people do with their rocks in the saltwater side of things.
 
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Thanks for the speedy reply and I’m so happy to have found an easy to use site with such a massive member base. I’ve attached a picture of the tank when the sand was in. I miss it so much and can’t wait to get it fixed so I can put it back in.
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Screwgunner

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Saltwater aquarium gravel is what you should use it keeps the ph up that is good for chiclids.
 
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I suppose I’m really lucky living where I am atm because the water from the tap is near perfect for cichlids, all I really need to do is let it sit in the sun for 24+ hr. I’m currently living in Jinan, Shandong, China. It’s known as spring city. There are loads of famous springs and tons of other unnamed ones too. The guy I got the cichlids from laughed at me when I asked him for coral to put in my sump and I later found out the ph and hardness of the tap water here makes keeping cichlids that much easier.
 
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One bad thing about living here is asking people for things that are special (different) to the normal items they use. I found Carib sea but it was super pricey and not 100% real. Throw some language barriers and a white face in the mix and it’s bound to go wrong
 

dennis romano

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The gravel will be fine for the cichlids. It will buffer the pH. Any residual salt will be okay. Malawi cichlids prefer salt in their water.
 

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