3m Colorquartz just won't come clean! Help?

myswtsins

myswtsins

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Jun 15, 2008
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I am having trouble rinsing my new black S-Grade colorquartz in hot water in a sifter I made for the sink. After rinsing only about 2 cups for 10 minutes if I rub it between my fingers it stains my fingers purple, it just doesn't seem to come completely clean. Is this normal? The water seems to be running clear though.

I know there are oily bags hence why I am rinsing it in hot water but this just seems excess. It does smell funny while I am rinsing it too. I did try another bag and it is the same thing. Thanks for looking!
 
Methinks they dyed the regular sand particles. I don't have experience with 3M products, so this is just a guess.
 
it takes awhile, when i originally put mine in the tank the tank still got cloudy and I cleaned each bag one bucket at a time for about 30min each.

rubbing it together is not very good as if there is any quartz exposed it will remove the ceramic from other pieces and that could be what you see. (quartz is harder than the ceramic coating so scratches it off easy)

it is ceramic coated quartz, no sand at all.

also fwiw I had fish in the tank when it was cloudy and there seemed to be no problems with it and after a couple days of partial water changes it was crystal clear.
 
Black takes longer to wash. Try & use cold water or warm enough so your hands don't freeze! I cleaned 5 lbs at a time in a bucket. Fill halfway with water, swish with your hand, pour off most of water. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. It won't be perfectly clean but it does get rid of most of the loose colorant & oily residue. It does have a noticeable chemical smell.
No need to dry it out before adding to your tank though I do suggest turning any filters off first. I had only minimal water in my tank when I first used this product. I love this stuff and it is the only substrate I use.
 
Great! Thanks everyone. The tank is currently completely empty, it is not even in the house yet, and there will be no fish in it for awhile so I think it will be fine now. Thanks for the reassurance.

ansbfish said:
rubbing it together is not very good as if there is any quartz exposed it will remove the ceramic from other pieces and that could be what you see. (quartz is harder than the ceramic coating so scratches it off easy)

it is ceramic coated quartz, no sand at all.
Click to expand...

That is what I was thinking so I stopped rubbing it. :)
 
Mostly all the sand in the world is quartz lol.
 
Yea, the black and dark brown take forever to rinse. My hands are always black up to my elbows every time. I rinse 1 gal tubs of it at a time and it seems to go faster than trying to do too much at once.
 
Yea I think it is all clean now! Took me many hours over the past 2 days but I think it will be worth it. I HOPE!! :)
 
Well it is not clean. When I first started putting it in the tank it was coming out very clean but today when I swished it around to remove some air bubbles my hands came out black.

I removed some of it to start cleaning again. I am trying the bucket method in warm water this time. I have been working on 2-3inch worth in the bottom of a 5g bucket for almost 30 minutes now with no difference. I can not clean the black off my hands with soap either. Is this still normal or have I gotten mutant bags? This is very upsetting! :( I have been cleaning this stuff for nearly 5 hours now! :help:
 
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