So Whats The Deal With Rinsing Sand

[krzyphsygy]

I bought 3 40 lb bags os Special Grade Sea Floor sand for my 90gl. Some what of a larger grain sand for my new reef going up soon. Its is dry aragonite. I have heard rinse it and then dont rinse it. Something about not rinsing being better in the long run biologially for the sand bed?

Anythoughts on that? Not really sure what the best way to rinse would be?

[Reefahholic]

Rinse it. Or your water will be cloudy.

[schristi69]

^^^^
whut he said

[krzyphsygy]

Cloudy permanently? I figured for a day or two maybe. Whats the reason for not rinsing?

Anyway whats the best way? Just a bucket and a hose? I am assuming a good rinse is key

[cordell]

You can put some sand in a bucket, probably half a bucket or so, fill with water and stir. Once the water is real cloudy, dump the water and repeat until the water is mostly clear after stirring.

Having said that... I used oolitic sugar-fine sand in my tank, and by being careful about how I put the water in the tank (and putting the sand in before water), I was able to prevent the usual sand storm almost entirely. Put a bag on top of the sand and add the water slowly on top of the bag so it doesn't hit the water and stir it up. The bag floats up as the level rises. Worked pretty good for me...

[Sk8r]

It's got a lot of dust. Get that out. Otherwise it will cloud nastily and be a pita re phosphate.

[Chris Lakies]

It's got a lot of dust. Get that out. Otherwise it will cloud nastily and be a pita re phosphate.

Exactly! It contains a good amount of phosphate.

[dieselkeeper]

Using faucet water may contain high TDS. It will get caught up in the sand that is going in your tank. Causing a hair algae outbreak. I would use RO water.

[porksmash]

Or alternatively, spread it out on a sheet and let it dry.

I'd also recommend rinsing. The dust will never really settle when you get some good water movement and you'll probably end up filtering it out with floss or a sock, which will take days. A couple hours with a bucket and some water is much quicker :)

[Dugless]

I think the drawback of being a mess and resulting in a more tedious removal far outweigh the possible small benefits you might have heard from other sources. My thought is, rinse it now, it's much faster and easier than filtering out the dust later.

[JasonBJones]

Using faucet water may contain high TDS. It will get caught up in the sand that is going in your tank. Causing a hair algae outbreak. I would use RO water.

I think this is getting a little extreme. Just drain most of the water out. The small amount of tap water left in the sand will be diluted and of little consequence.

I have added freshly washed sand, using tap water, to an established tank with no problems whatsoever.

[MaxxedMan]

I didn't rinse my sand. Filled the bucket, no room left to rinse, so I just added it. It settled after a couple days.

BUT, anytime I move a rock, or the mag float gets too close, cloudy again. Unless I get a goby or something to turn my tank into a permenate cloud for a few months (which I can't do for the same reason), it'll take years to cleans the dust out of my sand this way.

Rinse it, and rinse it good.

[jason2459]

I found that the caribsea special grade sand had a lot of debris in it, even small twigs. I bought about 5 bags and every one was the same. I love the sand but would definitely recommend rinsing it out because of that.

[krzyphsygy]

I will definetly rinse it. I am thinkink of using a bucket. Maybe put the water in first, then pour the sand in so it all gets wet quickly wihci should rinse it faster. Drying it seems to be a concern though in terms of the possible chlorine and other stuff from the tap. I am sure the slight TDS readings should not casue any significant problems.
I do run and excellent skimmer in the H&S, so that ahould easily pull out the junk water from the rinse.
I wish there was a large strainer i could rinse it through. Now that would be easy.

[jmacc702]

what about that super fine grain sand (I believe its called sugar sized), how would you go about rinsing that? Because it all basically seems to be dust to begin with..