why do I have to rinse NEW live sand?

[12PMER]

I am having, and been battling red slime for quite some weeks now maybe months I don't know. Anywho, I wanna siphon my sand to get it out but it just sucks all the sand with it so I need to get it back in the tank. I also wanted to bring my sand bed from 1.5 to 2.5 in the process. But why is it people rinse it thoroughly before putting it in tank? Seems counterproductive Considering its NEW and LIVE. doesn't adding it back in just help replace the beneficial elements I have removed from siphoning the my old sand bed of the red slime?? Also been battling 0(zero) nitrates for weeks and weeks and weeks. Just curious everyone's thoughts on this.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I am having, and been battling red slime for quite some weeks now maybe months I don't know. Anywho, I wanna siphon my sand to get it out but it just sucks all the sand with it so I need to get it back in the tank. I also wanted to bring my sand bed from 1.5 to 2.5 in the process. But why is it people rinse it thoroughly before putting it in tank? Seems counterproductive Considering its NEW and LIVE. doesn't adding it back in just help replace the beneficial elements I have removed from siphoning the my old sand bed of the red slime?? Also been battling 0(zero) nitrates for weeks and weeks and weeks. Just curious everyone's thoughts on this.

In the past, I have noticed debris such as plastic, slivers of driftwood and even fine dust in new sand.

 

[X-37B]

I just setup a remote fuge on my 120, 24x20x18, 3" total. I used 80lbs, 4 bags, and did not rinse it. I did pull a couple of black rocks from it.
I did not rinse my 1" sandbed in my frag system when I set it up too.

 

[jda]

If it is wet then you don't likely need to. Put some in a bucket and stir it up and see if it leaves it all cloudy - if so, then you might want to rinse it out.

 

[thesoulpatch]

@brandon429

 

[brandon429]

link barrage that would make the 1920's dustbowl look like a set of kid gloves in 3, 2

 

[brandon429]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/so-i-didnt-rinse.592624/
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/sandbed-stirred-up.544852/#post-5723606

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/very-cloudy-water-after-sand-and-rock.559386/#post-5735864
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/question-about-vacuuming-sand-bed.616059/ https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/new-tank-milky-cloudy.616519/
10 days, still won't settle and clouds fully
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/cloudy-tank.576835/

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/bummer-could-use-some-help.558301/


and this very recent job, he says he'll never skip rinsing again

Caribsea Ocean Direct Cloudyness

Recently filled my tank with RODI + Tropic Marin Salt, Ocean Direct Sand and now just waiting before planning how to cycle it. My question is, how is the best way to clean out this dust cloud from the tank? I don't have any kind of mechanical filtration but I could easily Cable-tie some filter...

www.reef2reef.com

the reason some are ok with not rinsing is because they didn't get a bag with high silt content.

take your sand and put it in a clear glass cup out of the bag, fill it up with water and look at it/do you want that in the tank and hope it clears, or do you want snow globe grains you already know will clear? choose.

whether or not someone bought sand that didn't need rinsing absolutely didn't help those above, they didn't get that bag. they got the degraded, handled rough in shipping option but were told to never rinse.


knowing you may need large water changes to guide mistakes, or to fix uglies, or for whatever reason is also a reason to rinse. when you pour water back on unrinsed sand, in a stocked tank, you can see above what that may cause. the only reason to not rinse the sand is simply to avoid the work

if you do the work, you ensure cloudless initial access to your reef, and that can save it if you need remediation one day

 

[austibella]

The reason a bag of WET LIVE SAND will get cloudy in the water is all the beneficial bacteria It will get over everything and will start to do its job do not rinse !!! The water will get cloudy but will clear up.....then you can blow off the rocks for and sand that settled on the rocks. Now you tank is cycling.

 

[brandon429]

Follow this thread for both hilarity and offense

Sand questions

I have a 20gal long Fowlr, it’s been up and running for about 7 months. I’m moving the set up to 65 gal. I bought two more bags of caribsea live sand, I didn’t realize it had a little bit green algae in it till I got home. My question is, is it safe to use as is, or should I rinse it really...

www.reef2reef.com

do you see how no rinse advisors are silent right when the cleanup starts, it’s hilarious.

 

[Garf]

Follow this thread for both hilarity and offense

Sand questions

I have a 20gal long Fowlr, it’s been up and running for about 7 months. I’m moving the set up to 65 gal. I bought two more bags of caribsea live sand, I didn’t realize it had a little bit green algae in it till I got home. My question is, is it safe to use as is, or should I rinse it really...

www.reef2reef.com

do you see how no rinse advisors are silent right when the cleanup starts, it’s hilarious.

Wow, your offending some really experienced folks right there. Dunno what your last line refers to. Are you just making stuff up again because you’ve worked out folks generally don’t read your links?

 

[WVNed]

I used to rinse and then I quit. I haven't found it makes much difference in the long run. The tank will clear more quickly is you rinse it is about the only benefit I have found. A totally unprovable by me idea I had a while ago was the fines rinsed out are the first things dissolved to get the buffering going robustly so I quit doing it.

 

[brandon429]

are the links in post number 7 good looking tanks, happy owners? How hard is it to simply click and read their examples Garf? You don’t assist anyone with anything it’s easy to be a side critic. Your post history shows only evaluations of others posts, you don’t make discovery threads to be evaluated. That’s a safe zone, convenient too.

I wanted the tenured advisors from that thread to self assess that doing evaluations from the sidelines sometimes turns out bad/opposite of what they initially advised, it’s how the links in post #7 arose.

 

[brandon429]

Right now in private message we are working a new nano reef (working tanks in message is different from sidelining, there's $ on the line) where phosphate was overdosed, we need a quick full change out.


they started with rinsed sand per the rules, and now their tank isn't going to cloud. These recommends arent to offend the trolls, they're coming from direct experience. Im fully ok with nobody rinsing sand initially, the sand rinse thread is at page fifty because they eventually need to play catch up.

by all means, follow the group think it keeps us busy elsewhere actually cleaning up the mess, and documenting it.

there is nothing more fun that being the only one in a post with relevant links... I do love it so. thanks for the invite soulpatch its fun to watch these threads always play out the same.

for sure the OP isn't going to rinse, I'll bet all red chips. strong chance itll be ok too, just not a 100% chance we show in post 7.

 

[sde1500]

Wow, your offending some really experienced folks right there. Dunno what your last line refers to. Are you just making stuff up again because you’ve worked out folks generally don’t read your links?

You can always count on him for an air of superiority directed towards anyone that does things differently than he advocates.


Never bothered washing my sand. That being said, never added more to an established tank. If there are many inhabitants, wouldn't hurt to follow JDA's advise of putting it in a bucket to see if it clouds. Cloudy tank of sand particulates look gross and can irritate tank inhabitants.

 

[brandon429]

I counted on you for silence when the work cleanup began, you delivered.

the recommends come from direct, linkable recent work jobs. Its ok to listen to people who solely work on their own tanks, I truly am ok with that. the non rinse cleanup jobs never end, by all means follow the common path.

sideline evaluations, gold.

 

[regionreef219]

The live sand I added when I first set up my tank 2.5 months ago was not rinsed. CaribSea Arag-Alive Fiji pink sand. Just put in the bottom of tank and added water. I had 2, 20 lb bags and it was slightly cloudy at first. I added one of the pouches that came with the sand to help clear it up and by the next morning (10 hours roughly) everything was clear.

 

[Jdadams]

In the past 15 years i have never rinsed a bag of sand for a new tank and I’ve never had a issue. If i was adding sand to an existing tank I would, but not a new one. No need for all that extra mess. With settling and filtration it’ll be clear in a couple days

 

[TCoach]

This is why. Do you really want all this "stuff" in your tank?

 

[brandon429]

T Coach Ive followed your build its sharp tank control.


for critics:
I fully realize that the majority can get away with bio settling given time, agreed.

but working live time in other's tanks produces unique experience from working solely in one's own tank, and another hidden facet of pre rinsing may be the most important of them all considering that the majority really will be ok with no pre rinse: pre rinsing is the first breakaway from destructive groupthink that many folks first learn from

anyone who reads the sand rinse thread knows we save tanks from complete loss there, its not fifty pages of fails. Following groupthink to not ever rinse the system is how they earned wrecked tanks and posted for help, we then helped.


Well, when they listen vs dig in heels day one, they learn automatic control options over the reef for use later on, say during dinos outbreaks, uncontrollable cyano etc.

We learn that the crowd sourced ideas come up short when unexpected variables happen, and sandbed rinsers are a group of folks who lose less corals, less full system wipeouts, they're not dependent on retail supports like bottle bac for every flinching reef tank move, we turn out powerful reefers as pre rinsers but Garf wouldn't know that or agree, he doesnt read my threads.

everything I post in a thread comes from honest patterning deduced from thousands of cumulative jobs, while it may be a surprise to some my actual goal is to help reefs work better, not harm them.

 

[sde1500]

and this very recent job, he says he'll never skip rinsing again

Caribsea Ocean Direct Cloudyness

Recently filled my tank with RODI + Tropic Marin Salt, Ocean Direct Sand and now just waiting before planning how to cycle it. My question is, how is the best way to clean out this dust cloud from the tank? I don't have any kind of mechanical filtration but I could easily Cable-tie some filter...

www.reef2reef.com

And yet, he mainly just left it alone and it settled anyway.

Sand questions

I have a 20gal long Fowlr, it’s been up and running for about 7 months. I’m moving the set up to 65 gal. I bought two more bags of caribsea live sand, I didn’t realize it had a little bit green algae in it till I got home. My question is, is it safe to use as is, or should I rinse it really...

www.reef2reef.com

do you see how no rinse advisors are silent right when the cleanup starts, it’s hilarious.

Where in this thread is there a clean up?

I don't follow why your few links trump everyone else's answers of them being fine having not rinsed sand? There is some borderline desperate need to be right here it seems. When in reality, the answer is that some people rinse it to reduce risk of cloudiness, some don't. Some then have issues with cloudy tank water, some don't. And that neither way is right or wrong, and rinsing doesn't kill the bacteria in the sand.

FWIW here is my tank maybe a couple days after I filled it with water 6ish years ago, and the sand was not rinsed, sump being non-operational during this time so no filter sock benefit gained.