Sand

[blue dog]

How would I steralize 100 pounds of sand?

 

[Planedoc]

Is it new sand or used sand?

You can put it in buckets add 25 % bleach and water and let sit for a day. Rinse really good than spread it out on a tarp and let dry for a few days. I have done this to the gravel in my fresh water tank several times over the last 20 years.
Sand is more difficult. I modified this bucket for rinsing 240 lbs of sand. It took 8 hours of the hose running to do it all.

Sent from my galaxy s3

 

[mc-cro]

If it were me, I would just buy new sand. sand is cheap enough that your wasting time and money trying to rinse that much sand.

 

[Planedoc]

That 8 hours I spent was rinsing new sand. I used nature's ocean because it was $18.35 for 20# bag with free shipping. It was really dirty, each bag had to be rinsed for at least half hour before water would be clear.
Next time I will spend the money on reef flakes.

Sent from my galaxy s3

 

[Reefing Madness]

Play Sand? Don't use it. To many silicates that will cause you a major headache with algae and cyano issues. No way around it.
Marine Sand, throw it in a bucket and rinse it out til the water comes out clear. If it comes in a sealed bag, and has water in it, don't do anything but throw it in the tank.

 

[blue dog]

Thanks for the replie, but what is reef flakes

 

[blue dog]

Thanks for the replie, I got it with a used tank and was told it had been sterilized. Very nice looking,
white with some black specs in it, i dont think it is play sand. Some said that it might have silicates in
it and this could be a problem with algae?

 

[Reefing Madness]

Yea, if it has some silicates in it, it will cause Cyano and other algae issues. If there is even a question as to wether it does or not, i'd not use it. But it doesn't and it was used in another tank, just rinse it out really well before using it again.

 

[steamer51]

Take a handful of the sand after it dries and pour a little vinegar on it. If it bubbles and foams it is aragonite[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] ([/FONT]calcium carbonate based, good reef sand) and if no reaction it is silica based (play sand). The acid in the vinegar (low PH) dissolves the base (high PH) and foams away the sand.