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.
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.
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..
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?
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...
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.
