pre rinse sand?

[Pallen81]

Are you supposed to pre rinse sand before putting it in the tank with live rock?

How exactly are you supposed to pre rinse sand without it going down the drain?

THANKS! :confused:

[Squawkbert]

add ~10# sand to 5g bucket (more if you have "Popeye" forearms), add water mix, decant, repeat until the water you're decanting looks just like the water going in. Then repeat w/ dechlor. treated water.

[Pallen81]

I'm sorry, I have no idea what that post meant. decant?

[lotuskid]

If the sand is LIVE sand then no don't rinse it. If it's just normal sand then yes give it a rinse.

Put some in a bucket then start adding water while stiring the sand around with your hand. Keep adding water gently and lettting it overflow over the top of the bucket. When the water starts getting clear then the sand should be clean.

Hope that helps.

[Reefscape]

main thing to remember is when you rinse it out, use RO water, else you will be starting off with phosphates and nitrates deep in the sand bed before you even get fish in it...

All i did with mine for my new build is put the sand in a pillow case and keep rinsing RO water through it untill it ran clear...

As mentioned above, if you buy the live sand, then do not rinse..

Niko

[Pallen81]

okay I'm starting to get it now. hehe. thanks.

I do not have RO water....... and it is not live sand, just regular agro sand. i don't even know where I'd get live sand from.

Would it be wise to buy premixed saltwater or distilled freshwater for this process??? or could I just dechlorinate my tap water beforehand and use it?

[Reefscape]

if possible, i would buy RO water from a LFS, i dont believe in using distilled water as the process of being distilled "USUALLY" means its been through copper pipes...

Or, failing that, then you will have to use declorinated tap water...

Niko

[Germanman]

yea distilled water isnt the best to use for that reason and a bit more.

[Squawkbert]

Decant=pour off the water, being careful to keep the sand.

If you want to be careful but not broke, use RO water or mix some fresh salt water w/ RO and do a couple of small final rinses of the sand w/ that. You can use tapwater to get the nasty stuff out, then replace it w/ tank-friendly water by doing a couple of lower water volume rinses of the sand with the RO or salt-mixed water.

[Pallen81]

Whats wrong with using plain dechlorinated water?

[Reefscape]

plain dechlorinated water is full of phosphates, nitrates and metal particles...Which is what will cause bad algae blooms in the tank. And if the above are buried in the sand bed, they are not going to be removed for a very long time...And in that long time, you are going to be suffering bad algae which is a PITA if you cant stop it...

Niko

[Pallen81]

Okay gotcha.

Where do I find RO water? do you think my lfs would have it? I don't think I've ever seen it. Maybe a grocery store or something.

I could use premixed saltwater to do this. it would be kind of a waste of saltwater but better then tap water i assume...

Siphoning the sand wouldn't that get out the nitrates, phos etc?

[Germanman]

most lfs carry bro for cheep or even free. water changes help reduce it but not if the water u use contains that.

[Squawkbert]

If you have a good friend who works in a lab, buy some plastic containers and have the friend fill them from the "Milli-Q, Barnstead, Labconco, Ultrapure Analytic" or similar system. Depending of the size of your tank, you may want to invest in your own RO system. They (fairly inexpensive, low volume ones) can be had on ebay any day of hte week. If your tank is big, you'll also want some sort of large plastic tub or drum and a power head so you can stock up on RO water ahead of your water changes.

In NJ, good water systems should be a part of almost every lab - lotsa pharma labs in NJ.

Any decent "high resistivity" water will do.

[Pallen81]

Thanks for all the responses. This is certainly helpful to know. I was just gonna rinse it in my dechlorinated tap water.

I will look into an RO unit. I thought they were expensive. And yeah, when I do water changes it will be with my tap water.

however, when I work at the public aquarium I told them about the RO water vs dechlorinated tap water. They told me to try my regular tap water and it would most likely be fine. Some of them live near me and they don't use RO units on their tanks at home... But if I had huge algae blooms they advised me to use RO water.

[Reefscape]

well, i cant disagree with that approach, but, i am always a stickler for stopping a problem before it starts...and that i used an RO unit right from the start...

Some people do have very good quality tap water, it boils down to finances and personal preference at the end of the day dont it mate....

Niko

[Pallen81]

I'd like to get an RO unit, but i've already dropped $500 dollars into this tank already on just supplies only. my $ account is wearing a little thin.

What about these tap water filters for deionized water? Are these junk? Would this be a suitable replacement for RO?

[Reefscape]

am afraid not mate...i dont rate them at all.....That is just my opinion of course matey...

What i would do is test your tap water for Ammonia, nitrITE, Nitrate and Phosphates and post the results and lets see what its like...

Niko

[Pallen81]

What i would do is test your tap water for Ammonia, nitrITE, Nitrate and Phosphates and post the results and lets see what its like...

that is a really good idea. I'll test my water tonight or tomorrow and let you know the results.

thanks matey! <--- I'm british now:)

[Reefscape]

ha ha ha ha...good good good...thats the way...british bulldog, fish and chips and that stuff.....lol

Let us know all the results and we shall take it from there...

Niko

[jojo22]

Shouldn't you be off to have a spot of tea Niko????

I know how bad it is now but when I first started keeping reef's I used well water, and in all onesty I think my tanks looked better then.

[Reefscape]

have already had some tea buddy...a nice hot ruby murry...Well water, in my opinion is the best you can use i think...

Niko

[Germanman]

i want some tea

[jojo22]

Where I'm from only women and men who act like women drink tea!!!!!!!

[Reefscape]

ah well you see....where i am from...tea is refered to as an evening meal...now then, am not sure if germanman classes his evening tea as meal, or the womans drink....maybe the later???????....he he he

Niko

[Germanman]

ah well you see....where i am from...tea is refered to as an evening meal...now then, am not sure if germanman classes his evening tea as meal, or the womans drink....maybe the later???????....he he he

Niko

its a tad of both....women like a soft side.....lol

[Catpicklesdog]

I'm slightly disabled and find it hard to get to my LFS and so I used filtered tap water to do top ups and now I have a lovely case of Dinoflagellates which I'm struggling to get rid of. I actually tested my filtered water yesterday and OK the nitrates were alright but the Phosphate test went right off the scale (I'd been told it was probably Phosphates that caused my Dino). So I agree with Niko and recommend RO water every time or you too could have a tank like mine - and you really don't want that!!

[Reefscape]

you have my sympathy on the algae scene mate...it can take a while and a lot of frustration to get it back under control...

Niko

[Catpicklesdog]

I must admit I got very disheartend and was ready to give up on the whole marine biz, but my fish are determined to survive so, so will I!!!:dive:

[Reefscape]

i have seen it so many times with algae blooms, some people are just not determined enought to work through them and just give it and sell the lot...Such a shame...Glad you stuck too it mate..

Niko

[Pallen81]

Ok, so I got my readings for my tap water

ammonia = 0
NitrITE = 0
pH - 7.8
NitrATE = 7.5
Phosphate= 0.5

I see I have some nitrate and phos levels... are those bad levels or acceptable?

[Reefscape]

to be honest, they are not that bad for tap water...to give you a comparison, the nitrates in my tap water at home are 20...

Niko

[Pallen81]

to be honest, they are not that bad for tap water...to give you a comparison, the nitrates in my tap water at home are 20...

Niko

So I take it that you think its okay to go ahead and try it out.

I will test my levels again today to look for consistency. I hear that levels can change periodically.

Also, if I use "prime" conditioner on my tap water, on the bottle it says it neutralizes nitrates. Would this addition treatment lower the nitrates in my water as well??

Also, whats a bad phosphate reading?

[Reefscape]

yes, i would go for it and use it untill you can buy an RO unit and yes, the levels do change as water companies are constantly changing the additives that are added to water...

Bad phosphate readings are anything other than Zero...however, even yours at 0.5 is that bad

Niko

[Pallen81]

so 0.5 is bad.... hmmm

are there phosphate conditioners/removers available that I could add to my tap water while I treat it?

thanks dude

[Reefscape]

not really, most poeple will install a phosphate reactor which you can put phosphate removing media inside..

The following link just shows what a reactor is, am not recomending this product...just wanted to make that point clear....

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=11586&Ntt=phosphate%20reactor&Ntk=All&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Np=1&N=2004&Nty=1

Niko

[Pallen81]

alright. thanks again.

I guess I will take my chances with my tap water. I'll treat it accordingly and hope that it all works out. I'm very good about weekly water changes so hopefully I can keep those nitrates down.

Any i'm great at scraping algae. LOL.

[Germanman]

Ok, so I got my readings for my tap water

ammonia = 0
NitrITE = 0
pH - 7.8
NitrATE = 7.5
Phosphate= 0.5

I see I have some nitrate and phos levels... are those bad levels or acceptable?

wow yea not bad at all! good luck man
my tap water is like this
ammonia=0
nitrite=0
ph=8.1
nitrate=.005
phosphate=0
so i use it when i have to

[Catpicklesdog]

so 0.5 is bad.... hmmm

are there phosphate conditioners/removers available that I could add to my tap water while I treat it?

thanks dude
I had a huge problem with Phosphates in my tank and used Rowaphos which worked like a treat. I'm sure there are other products out there but this one did the job for me.

[Germanman]

rowaphos is one of the best out there.