Washing Sand substrate

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pbecot01

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Dec 27, 2004
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McGuire AFB, NJ
I picked out my new tank, bought the filters and heater (wal-mart is as cheap as big al's for filters) and have it in my house. Don't have good lights yet, but it's a process, right?

My next step is putting in the sand and water. You guys who have used it before... did you wash the sand first? If so, how EXACTLy do you go about it (i can be an idiot sometimes lol)
 
Okay, I had 50 pound bags of Pool Filter Sand, which I was told is just cleaner than Play Sand. I poured half of the sand into one five gallon bucket and the other half into another five gallon bucket (you can use one bucket if you like without a problem). I went outside in the front yard. I set the buckets on the grass near a tree (I knew I'd be using a lot of water, so why not give a tree a drink?), grabbed a hose, turned it on and just let it run in one of the buckets. I let it overflow a while, watching the scum and dust floating out of the bucket. After it started to run relatively clear, I stuck my hand in the water and stirred up all of the sand on the bottom with the hose still running. I then waited for it to settle once again and run clear. I repeated that about 6 more times. Then, I poured off as much water as I could and turned to the other bucket and did the same process. After that I hosed off the bottom of the buckets so I didn't bring dead grass into the house (my wife wouldv'e loved that dontcha know) and got a sturdy garden spade that was rinsed very clean and started scooping the wet sand out from the buckets and putting it into the tank. I just put clump after clump in, more clump where I knew I wanted a "dune" or hill affect and less sand in the middle where I wanted less substrate. After I had gotten all I could out of the buckets, I smoothed out the sand in the tank with my hands. Then I walked over to the sink and used the sprayer to get the sand off my hands and into the bucket I was going to use to haul water (didn't have a Python yet) and started filling the buckets up. My friend Matt helped lift the buckets high enough and helped me keep them steady as I poured water into the tank. I used my hand to diffuse the water stream so it wouldn't muck up my hard work at getting the sand right (though it still did, but I smoothed it again later). After that I treated the water, hooked up the filters and went and picked up my plants. You said detailed, so there it is. :)
 
Thanks, that is a super post :)
 
I have also heard of putting a garbage bag down on top of the sand, then pouring the water onto that. This keeps the sand from being stirred up. Then you can just pull the bag out once it is full.
 
That is a neat idea! I used a dinner plate, but it still got stirred up some :p

Got it all set up now :) Water is GOOD and cloudy, but I'm not too stressed about it... next step doesn't come till monday (plants, and MAYBE biospira and fish)
 
pbecot01 said:
That is a neat idea! I used a dinner plate, but it still got stirred up some :p

Got it all set up now :) Water is GOOD and cloudy, but I'm not too stressed about it... next step doesn't come till monday (plants, and MAYBE biospira and fish)
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Excellent, that should work well for you. I did use carbon the first few days, just in case.
 
I have recently started using sand substrate in my tank (approx 3 weeks ago) and I am curious...if I should ever need to clean it, whats the easiest and best way to do that?
 
If I use a gravel vac, will it pull the sand up since its lighter than gravel? I didnt know if I had to take it out ans seine it. What do you do?
 
Well, first of all it's not a matter of if you ever, it is a matter of when. I use a Python gravel Vaccuum about every five days or at least once a week. You can suck up some sand, but since sand stays fairly packed, you just skim the surface. Ocassionally I will dip it into the surface to stir it up and I always, when refillnig my tank let the water agitate the top layer of sand to kick up anything underneath my cory cats might've buried in their scavenging so that my filters can catch it.
 
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