moldy sand??????

keithnj said:

i just picked up some pool filter sand from the store? it smells moldy! the guy said a few bags busted and they put it all in a bucket.(he gave me a deal) after i give it a thorough rinse , will the mold get washed away? and it be safe for the aquarium?

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Not sure if it will be ok or not. I would have just paid the couple extra bucks and got new stuff. Good luck tho.

if you're worried you could just boil it.

That really, really sucks for you. I hope you got it for free.

You've got a few options, I guess.

The one I'd go for is buy a new batch of sand.

Next up is heat it all in the oven for a fair amount of time, stir it up etc to make sure it all gets exposed. That should kill anything in there, but I have no idea what it might leave behind.

Following that is to boil it. Have fun with that.

Next, you could try spreading it out so it all gets exposed to airand the sun , on something big(huge) and flat. That *should* work once it's all dried out.

Soak with bleach would kill everything, but good luck getting it all out.

Can't think of anything else practical.

Personally I wouldn't risk it. The new sand should be cheap anyways...I got 50 lbs. for 10 bucks.

i wouldn't trust it once it's fallen out of the bag. who knows what chemicals/pesticides/poisons it has been exposed to. plus - what was in the bucket originally?