Sand you vacuum up - what do you do with it?

[jkobel]

Greetings reefers!

When you vacuum your sand bed during maintenance, if you're anything like me, you probably end up with a lot of sand in the bucket. (I have a 135 gal DT and do about 25 gallons of water change during maintenance)

What do YOU do with it and why?

Do you-

Toss it?
Rinse and put back?
Replace with new periodically?
Other?

Thanks!

 

[lapin]

If I did not have bags of sand left over from the beginning I would rinse and reuse it. For now it goes in the garden.

 

[W31Olds]

I use a cordless drill with an inexpensive plastic mixing attachment and mix and rinse repeatedly and let the bucket sit for a couple of days and the repeat until the sulfur smell is gone. Then I just reuse the sand and don't usually replace a huge amount all at once.

 

[DatReefGuy]

I always chuck it. I never really put any thought into washing it and reusing it. I just figure, go to my LFS and purchase more.

 

[Euphyllia098]

If it's a lot, just stick your hand in the bucket, scoop it out and put it back in the tank.

Small amounts just get flushed down the toilet with the dirty water.

 

[JunichiroHill]

Since I vacuumed it due to algae(brown and pink) I treat it first with API AlgeFix, some members said is an algaecide, after that I cleaned, rinse it , treat it with Brightwell MicrōBacter7 and back to where it came from .

If the price is right I get on bag of sand to keep it as a backup in case of emergency