Thought I'd share this in case anyone was interested. I recently bought 100 lbs of live sand from TBSW. I had seen photos of their sand in other members' tanks, liked the look of it but didn't want the larger pieces of shell. My buddy Jack (@UncommonSense) had the great idea of using classifiers for sifting it. These things are usually used by gold prospectors for sifting dirt but worked great for this purpose. I bought 3 of them from this website.
They come in 1/2", 1/4" and 1/8" mesh size. I bought all 3 but didn't end up using the 1/8" size as the holes looked too small. They are designed to fit in a 5 gallon bucket but worked better in a 12 gallon Rubbermaid bin filled about 2/3 full with saltwater.
Here is what we got out with the 1/2" classifier:
Then we repeated the process with the 1/4" classifier and got this:
That stuff will all go in the sump.
Also got a few hitchhikers:
And here is the final product:
I'm currently holding the sand in trays in a 20 gallon tank while waiting (im)patiently for my new tank to arrive.
Sand appearance is obviously a matter of personal preference but I'm very happy with the outcome and the way this worked!
They come in 1/2", 1/4" and 1/8" mesh size. I bought all 3 but didn't end up using the 1/8" size as the holes looked too small. They are designed to fit in a 5 gallon bucket but worked better in a 12 gallon Rubbermaid bin filled about 2/3 full with saltwater.
Here is what we got out with the 1/2" classifier:
Then we repeated the process with the 1/4" classifier and got this:
That stuff will all go in the sump.
Also got a few hitchhikers:
And here is the final product:
I'm currently holding the sand in trays in a 20 gallon tank while waiting (im)patiently for my new tank to arrive.
Sand appearance is obviously a matter of personal preference but I'm very happy with the outcome and the way this worked!
