Worth washing out sand?

-Logzor · Apr 2, 2011

I am about to fill up my new tank. I am considering either washing out my sand or just throwing into the empty tank and then slowly filling it up.

I hear that some people don't even bother washing it out. Does it really matter?

drainbamage · Apr 2, 2011

is it brand new sand or from someone's tank? If from someone's tank- wash it out for sure, no reason to import all the debris/detritus (unless it's Still live sand- as in been kept in aerated water no more than an inch think for not too long)

If it's brand new- you can go either way. I typically don't wash before I use-but sometimes I regret it when I have extra debris when I stir things up.

AquaWorldPSC · Apr 2, 2011

Usually when we setup new tanks with new sand we don't bother, it will settle out in a couple days. If it is used sand i'd be weary, I never like reusing old sand.

Seasonedreefer · Apr 2, 2011

You really can't go wrong with rinsing the fines out of your sand.

-Logzor · Apr 2, 2011

It is brand new Carbisea Reeffloor Special Grade, still in the bag.

I think i might just dump it in. Sounds like it won't cause any problems.

mc-cro · Apr 2, 2011

I agree, if its new sand, you dont have to rinse, I never do. But be aware, you will probably have to endure a white out for an extra day or so, but if your cycling a new tank it wont matter anyway.

kingfisherfleshy · Apr 3, 2011

I would wash no matter what.

The bacteria that you are going to lose arent as important as all the detritus that you are going to never add to your tank by washing it now.

Do yourself a favor, and start clean.

If it is "new" sand, you still want to get all the dust and other nasty crud out of your sand. Wash no matter what.

mdb_talon · Apr 3, 2011

I would not bother washing new sand in my opinion its just a headache with no benefit.

SunnyX · Apr 3, 2011

I would wash it. I have used this sand for many years and you wouldn't believe the stuff that comes out of it. I have found wood,plastic, and super fine dust. It's better to away it out than have your Skimmer messing with it.

Sonny

Pike614 · Apr 3, 2011

Rinse it out for sure, the above posts are right, it does settle out...but the tank will clear up much quicker if you rinse it out a bit.

-Logzor · Apr 3, 2011

Yeah perhaps I should have washed it out, right now I have the sand in there and about 1/5 of the tank is full. There is some crud floating on the top, so I will vacuum that up from the surface with my shop-vac. So far the water looks very clear, other than the stuff on the top.

I am not in a huge hurry to have the tank cleared up, I have awhile before moving stuff over from my stock system. I will only have powerheads/return pump running for the first couple of days, as well as filter stocks, hopefully that will do the trick for any debris/dust that makes it out of the sand.

Once it has been running for a couple days I will add my liverock, which is in it's own holding system, separate from all my livestock. At that point I will run heavy carbon/phosban to remove anything that might be in the sand/rock.

jakem · Apr 3, 2011

kingfisherfleshy said:
I would wash no matter what.

The bacteria that you are going to lose arent as important as all the detritus that you are going to never add to your tank by washing it now.

Do yourself a favor, and start clean.

If it is "new" sand, you still want to get all the dust and other nasty crud out of your sand. Wash no matter what.

+1 I agree

kingfisherfleshy · Apr 3, 2011

SunnyX said:
I would wash it. I have used this sand for many years and you wouldn't believe the stuff that comes out of it. I have found wood,plastic, and super fine dust. It's better to away it out than have your Skimmer messing with it.

Sonny

This is true no matter what you buy. I have bought carribsea stuff that was supposed to be "clean". And I got strange green rocks, wood, dust, and even plastic as mentioned. No reason to not wash your substrate, even if it is just for the sake of diatom control.

jakem said:
+1 I agree

Thanks jakem!

Electrobes · Apr 5, 2011

I would definitely wash it.. more good can be done doing so than harm. I think more harm would come from not washing it... plus you have less cloudiness in the long run after you start the tank.

-Logzor · Apr 5, 2011

Haha. I guess I should have washed this stuff out...I was getting anxious to get the tank running. I thought I was ready to roll, that is until I found out that my wife wasn't going to let me pump water all night (yeah I've had a couple mini-floods...). So had I known that I probably would have taken the time to wash it out, since I would have to wait a few days to get it filled anyways.

Anyways, I fired up the MP60 last night and it disturbed all those fines, making the water very cloudy, it also uncovered a dead hobo that was buried in the sand....OK it's not THAT bad.

The tank is almost filled, I have two 100 micron filter socks ready to filter out all of the fine particles and half-eaten sandwiches. Hopefully these do their job and clean up the water in a day or two.

By the way, the MP60 is crazy, the undertow was slowly moving sand from one side of the tank to the other, it wasn't sucking any up, though.

btkrausen · Apr 5, 2011

I'm working on my new build now, and I've always washed it out. To me, I'd rather take some time to clean out anything that goes in my tank. When I"m done, I look at all the nastiness that came out, and just think about how that stuff isn't in my new tank