caribsea special grade reef sand-rinse or not?

[deansreef]

I am adding 45 lbs to my 180 bb tank, the tank has been running for almost 2 years as BB and I am tired of the look. I am using only 45 lbs so that I can easily remove and replace it twice annually or maybe 3 times a year.

I am wondering if anyone has done this and if tap water was used to rinse the sand?

Dean

[reefdood]

Use tap to rinse real well, then let the drained sand sit for a day to evaporate the small ammount chlorine from the tap.

Honestly though I just rinse and dump it in. ;)

[Dunky019]

Ya, def. give it a good rinse, I used tap water as well.

[graveyardworm]

I wouldnt rinse it, the smaller particles will settle, and are beneficial for the sand bed.

[deansreef]

thanks graveyardworm.

how would you suggest i add the sand to my reef? I was thinking of adding the sand into a ziplock bag and transferring it to the bottom and then slowing pouring it onto the bottom...hopefully I will not have a large sand or dust storm!

Dean

[reefdood]

I'm guessing since you have been BB with SPS, you must have alot of strong flow, right? The flow of most BB tanks will blow sand like no tomorrow. Isn't the point of BB tanks to have enough flow to not let anything settle? Like fine sand particles?

I'd just be nervous that either I'd get sandstorms from not rinsng (hell I used a collander), or even worse outcome reducing flow. Best bet is to get some advice from those who have had success going from BB to sand. ;) I've always used sand with no probs.

[RudyCDX1]

The size of the Caribsea Special Grade will rinse easy and will drop to the bottom without a sand storm.

[deansreef]

wont rinsing the sand cause problems with phosphate that is in the water that the sand is being rinsed with?

[dbrock12]

Rinse the sand. Tap water will work, a trash can of RO water would be better. Use two trash cans, one full of RO water and the other empty. Pump the water from the full can and rinse the sand over the empty can. I used a large pool skimmer with pantyhose pulled over it to hold the sand over the empty can. I rinsed 320 lbs this way, and had to go back and forth between the two trash cans several times. 40 lbs will not take you very long to do, and you will be glad that you did it. You will be suprised at how much very fine sand you rinse out.

As for putting the sand in an existing tank, I used a piece of 3" pvc that was long enough to extend from the bottom of the tank to 2 to 3" above the water line, and just poured the sand into the PVC. Let it settle for 20 minutes or so and then slowly pull the PVC out of the tank and move it to the next spot. Putting the sand in this way is time consuming, but virtually no sandstorm.

Don

[Craig Lambert]

I wouldn't rinse it either. If you do decide to rinse it use RODI water. Your isea of ziplock bags works well. Another way that people often add sand is by using a piece of pvc pipe. A 1.5 or 2" diameter piece works well. You can just poor it in the pipe while holding the pipe in the tank with the opposite end in the sandbed.

edit...dbrock. didn't mean to repeat your pvc pipe idea...I got side tracked writing the post and saw yours after I completed it.

[dippin61]

if you also add the sand wet, you'll get less of a sand storm.

[deansreef]

dippin61, i believe wetting the sand would cause problems as the sand can soak up impurites from the water leeching them into the tank...agreed?

[smstrick20]

I didnt rinse mine and had no problems, filled the tank and it was clear in a matter of minutes

[deansreef]

I added the sand and the water never got cloudy

[kpcollins31]

I would not rinse it - I just did a tank upgrade and did not rinse the new sand. The tank was cloudy for less than a day - the skimmer took out anything that did not settle on its own.

[Gundo5000]

I always rinse dry cc.

[xtrstangx]

I didn't rinse my Special Grade Reef Sand. It only took a 2-3 days to settle out, it wasn't a big deal but if I had to do it again, I would rinse it.

[cward]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8433427#post8433427 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dbrock12
As for putting the sand in an existing tank, I used a piece of 3" pvc that was long enough to extend from the bottom of the tank to 2 to 3" above the water line, and just poured the sand into the PVC. Let it settle for 20 minutes or so and then slowly pull the PVC out of the tank and move it to the next spot. Putting the sand in this way is time consuming, but virtually no sandstorm.

Don

Yep, this is the best way that I have found. I used 2" pvc with a large funnel at the top.

[mission man]

I just added 150 lbs of caribsea sand about 3 days ago in my 180. The water is VERY cloudy. I did not rinse it. I hope my water clears by monday as I am getting my live rock.

[cward]

If you have a good skimmer it will clear it up for the most part.

[pperez]

I added 120lbs of that sand into my 75gal. It was clear within 24hrs. The skimmer i think removed alot of the silt. I just dumped it in unrinsed and just netted the floating particles.

[deansreef]

I only added 45 lbs to the tank and it was clear within an hour...my GS4 is worth every penny.

Dean