Washing pulverized limestone

[TexanTrail]

I've got my 100 gal tank set up and test run in the garage. I think I've got everything tightened, taped, glued, etc to stop all leaks. Just need to drill a couple of siphon break holes in my return line. Next I'll be taking it into the house. I will be using pulverized limestone. After I get thru washing it with tap water, is it ok to just drain the water and put the limestone in the tank, or should I do a final rinse with RO/DI water?

Thanks,
David

 

[Guest]

i didnt wash my two tanks sand with ro but i think it took to long to sicle so a little time to wash in ro will at the less save you a lot of time in sicling

 

[nickihn]

I had a similar thought setting up my 1st tank over the last couple of weeks. I used tap water to wash out the limestone (~300lbs of it). I decided against a final rinse in RO/DI and emptied as much water as I could, added a couple of drops of tap water treatment to take care of any residuals and then added RO/DI + salt to fill the tank.

I let this settle for 10 hours under a powerhead and then added my liverock (which came from another aquarium). It has been 4 days and checking everything daily (nitrates / ammonia are 0). I have taken samples of the water in to test and everything is at the right levels. I have had no dyoff yet...there are a few small coral frags on the rock which are doing great.

Keep in mind it is still under a week for me, but based on the water tests I would say it is not needed. Again I conditioned it anyway based on a guestimate of 10g of water intermixed with 300lbs of sand.