Sand in my water container after water changer

[Tropix]

after doing my water change, I have sand from that was sucked up, can I just put it back in or do i need to soak it. waste to throw away, fiji pink ls, very fine.

[swjim]

I usually just toss it out. If you put it back in you might be putting back in some of the detritus that you were trying to remove during the water change.

[Tropix]

so plan 2 then I just wash out the sand and put it back in.

[Octoshark]

If you really want to keep it then you can put it back in. If its a small amount of sand then I wouldn't think there is a significant amount of detritus in it, but if you are worried about that then yea just rinse it off first.

[Aquarist007]

how are you do your water changes? You really should not be sucking any sand up.
If it is a small tank without a sump then I prefer using a 2 quart plastic container and using the one container out one container back in method. I use a turkey baster to lightly baste the sandbed and reef rock prior to changing the water

[Chris27]

I use the same bucket everytime when cleaning the sandbed, once it's about half full of sand I wash it real well with tap water, and then lay it out on a tarp in the front yard to dry in the sun. After it's good and dry, I put it back into the tank.

[Tropix]

how are you do your water changes? You really should not be sucking any sand up.
If it is a small tank without a sump then I prefer using a 2 quart plastic container and using the one container out one container back in method. I use a turkey baster to lightly baste the sandbed and reef rock prior to changing the water

I did a 15 gallon water change, I vacuumed the the water/sand and filled 3 5 gallon containers, the sand is currently still in the containers and will save the sand. The reason I do not throw it away is because all the sand from today and the last water change from a month ago I know the sand is still even wet from the original water, I just procrastinate is about a 3-5 pounds of fiji pink.

[lordofthereef]

How much sand are you talking? generally unless I am siphoning the sand the amount that ends up in the waste bucket is negligible.

[Tropix]

six of those LFS water change buckets had some sand in it which filled a bag and half gallon bag zip lock bag and that seems like a lot of sand to throw away.

[Chris27]

Yea, no sense tossing it, if it's clean give it a good rinse with SW and throw it back into the tank. If it's filthy, try what I mentioned earlier, the sand comes out nice and clean and ready for action.