old sand

C

C W Haba

I was given some sand after it was left outside in a bucket with very little water for a few days. I know that the sand is now dead. Should I just throw it away or is there any way possible to save it? I have it in a tub with a powerhead, heater, and lights on it. If you could give me some advise, I would greatly aprreciate it.

C W
 
Right. Time to wash it clean. Fill a bucket 1/3 full with sand, and point a garden hose in there at full strength. Using your arm/hand, stir it very well, and let the water just blast it and overflow... the sand will stay in the bucket and all the waste will wash out. Keep rinsing and mixing until the water is clear, then dump that sand into your tank or another container, and resume with another batch of sand until done.

If you really want it dead, spread it out on a blue tarp so that the sun can bake it for a day or two, then once it is dried out and the wind has done its number, it is ready to use.
 
@C W Haba wrote:
I was given some sand after it was left outside in a bucket with very little water for a few days. I know that the sand is now dead. Should I just throw it away or is there any way possible to save it? I have it in a tub with a powerhead said:
I totally disagree, throw it all away. It's not worth the risk of phosphates and other crap leaching out later on down the road. It cost nothing and to put new sand in is a very small amount in the total cost of the system. But it could truly be a source of bad headaches down the road, when you are trying to figure out sources of phosphates or organics that are making nuisance algaes grow. To me it is one of those controlled risks that many poeple take for a cost savings that in the scheme of things is nothing. You are never going to be able to clean the sand to my satisaction. And are you thoroughly cleaning it with ro/di water? I doubt anyone could make that much so quickly. No you are going to use tap water, the same water everyone says you should not use in the tank, You are filtering all the metals and phoshates and clorine and other chemicals through the sand over and over and then sticking that into the tank. ???????????
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So, if I bought live sand from an established reef tank, would I have any problems if I put that into my system? I understand that once I move the sand that certain life forms are disturbed, so would I need to leave it in a tub for a few weeks or should I not even bother with buying such sand?
C W
 
So said:
I wouldn't buy old sand and if I acquired some free I'd keep a few handfuls and wash the rest really really well if I planned on using it. You'd probably be better off with new sand (southdown is cheap and good)honestly with a little sand from an established reef (or from a few different reefs for more diversity). I've reused a lot of sand after blasting it with the water hose but that doesn't make it the best choice. I live in BFE so I can't just go down the road and buy mine.

Angela
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I think with a large enough tub you should be able to recondition old sand. I mean, think about it... that "new" sand we all claim to use came from somewhere that the contaminants were much worse than what comes from our garden hose. So I'd just Tub it and put a couple of power heads in it and a canister filter and leave it run for a couple of weeks in mixed saltwater just as we'd do when establishing a tank. Once your parameters stabilize the sand bed should be usable.
 
@Firewolf4 wrote:
I think with a large enough tub you should be able to recondition old sand. I mean said:
Is it worth any risk of contaminates of any type. How does anyone know where it has come from or what has been in it? Everyone wants to go through the process of quarantining fish, but just put any old sand in their tanks to begin with. And I know several things that a fresh water dip does not kill. And if you say well just run it with a garden hose until all is well, why not just use new sand. You will never have to look back and think maybe it was the sand. And I would not use any of that new sand full of contaminates either.
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I totally agree with Rick on this one. Why risk it. There are all kinds of chemical reactions that hapen in our sandbed. At a minimum phosphate is absorbed in some way and there are other buildups of hydrogen sulfide, etc.

Why risk it? Sand is super cheap! Silica sand is actually pretty pure. Not much in there except Silicon Dioxide. For sure not sulfides, very low chance of phosphtes, etc.
 
Also agree with Rick on this one too. When I added my 30gal refugium to my system I added about 75-100 lbs of sand just like you are talking about.....was used in a tank, but then sat dry in buckets. I reinsed it thoroughly before use. Following that addition I've had more algae problems than ever...mainly valonia (bubble) and bryopsis. This is why I just tore down my fuge and replaced the sand.
Charley
 
i'd have to disagree. the "new" sand is coming from the ocean anyways, and it seems alot dirtier when you clean that sand, then the sand from an established tank. just dry it out and rinse through it.
 
Any sand coming from the ocean has about a billion creatures in it evolved over billions of years that break down EVERYTHING. There is nothing left in the sand. NO tank has that type of bio-diversity to break down wastes that are in the sandbed. The major difference being we have so much more of a consentrated waste load that collects in any tank sand bed over very little time. This does not even take into account any dangerous metals or chemicals that may still have residual ammounts left in old sand. Who knows where it has been?
 
I just changed my sand bed in my 38 gal tank. There's no way in the world that I'd even consider rinsing it and using it again yuck. I think I'm going to fill some low spot in my lawn with it instead. :)
 
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