Old Sand

I don't see any reason why after a good washing there would be anything wrong with it...

By "it has been kept wet", what do you mean exactly? There was water left in an unused tank and the sand was submerged in that??

I would think (i dont really have much experience here) that as long as you didnt have any diseases or anything like that, then a good wash and you should be good to go! I have used months old gravel before, see no reason why sand would be any different!

If it's been sitting still, (stagnant), then it needs to be rinsed, then soaked in a solution with bleach and then rinsed again thoroughly, imo. You could have anaerobic lifeforms and sulfur there. (I recommend rinsing before adding bleach because I don't know what bleach and sulfur do together.)

If it was at the bottom of an otherwise empty (fish-less) tank with pumps running, it's good to use right now.

I would put the sand in the tank. Fill it partially with water. Stir the sand. Do a water change. Repeat until sand is clean.

joe jaskot said:

I would put the sand in the tank. Fill it partially with water. Stir the sand. Do a water change. Repeat until sand is clean.

Click to expand...

Sounds like alot of work, and possible less effective than actually taking the sand out and rinsing it...

I would take out the sand, place it in 1 or 2, 5 gal buckets, either use a hose or tub faucet, fill the bucket, let it run, give it a stir, let it run, give it a stir, repeat until water comes out CLEAR...

Just seems that doing water change after water change to get the desired rinsing would take forever. IMO!