Best way to clean sand?

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Getmuddy350

Gambusia
MFK Member
Dec 30, 2005
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Okay,

I bought 150 lbs of sand for my 125, It has water in it, but no heater and no filter. I went ahead and dumped the "pre-cleaned sand" into my aquarium. I now have mud. Currently I have my syphon pulling the water out, and my hose putting water in at the same rate, basically pulling out dirty water and putting clean water in. Should I continue doing this, or should I just do a few 90% water changes?? Any help would be MUCH appreciated.
 
I would scoop out most of the sand into bucets then a bucket full at a time put it into a pillow case with a hose and work it until it is clean.
 
What kind of sand did you use? play sand? if so ya, its messy, but do some large waterchanges and that should help. doing what you are doing will work, but very slowly, cause as you put the clean water in, it mixed with the dirty water, so then when you are taking water out you are taking both the clean and dirty. much longer process then just doing some large water changes. just my opinion.
 
are there fish inside? O_O
that happened to me before, and i didl ike 90% water changes everyday.
the first day, it didnt seem to help AT ALL. then, the next day, a little bit cleared, and the next day, it was like halfway clear. and the water changes after taht didnt seem to do much.
anywho, i had my filter running on the whole time also
and i took out the pads, rinsed them through water, and put them back in. it cleared up in about a week.
 
most the debris floating around will settle, but i would recommend getting most of it out, cause when your fish mess around in the sand they will stir it back up, and then you have a mess again.
 
Howdy,

Just make a 100% water change, and you'll be fine. Refill the tank by directing the water on a plate or in a bowl to prevent stirring everything up again. No problem. If you plan on planting the tank - your plants will appreciate a bit clay in between the sand :thumbsup:

HarleyK
 
You are smart not to fun the filter the sand would kill it. When I did my tank, I just let the tank sit for a day it cleared right up. When the sand really gets wet it wont float in the water.
 
I did a 100% waterchange, as the water got low I really started stirring it, sucked all the "mud" I stirred up out. Filled it back up and its clear! And no, there are no fish...No filters...No heaters....No lights....but there is sand now! lol. I just can't wait to get this thing up and running. I went to the craft shop, bought a bunch of silk plants (like 2 bucks a pop) and glued them to a bunch of pieces of slate...The tank looks mint. Now if only I had all the other stuff.
 
Stir up the sand and wait till all the sand has settled back down and then quickly pump all the dirty and cloudy water out and refill with new water and do this a few times till it clears up pretty good. Then run a filter with a really fine filter material so that you get all the smallest debris out and your water will clear up soon. GL!
 
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