Blasting sand users

Hendre

Bawitius
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Jan 14, 2016
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I use titanium slag which is pretty similar, it takes a long time to wash but works quite nicely thereafter :D
 

DrownedFishonFire

Goliath Tigerfish
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Nov 2, 2008
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Used to have those 3M blasting sand and had them in tanks with catfish, cories and plecos and didnt have issues but that was years ago. Just dont order the smaller grade vs larger grade because one grade would float up everytime fish kicked up the sand and screw with the filter intakes. Have not looked into them yet as currently using pool filter sand for now.
 

ryang85

Plecostomus
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Dec 9, 2019
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Just rinse it out good and it works great. I think most of the dust that is magnetic is probably going to float out, I get pretty aggressive with the hose to get all the floaty stuff and dust out since it's so cheap. It can be tough to vacuum because it's so floaty but it's not too much worse than sand. Its definently my favorite option.

20200119_222519.jpg
 

Rass

Aimara
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Oct 3, 2005
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I love it and haven't used anything else since I discovered it. I have it with all sorts of fish/inverts, although I can't vouch for Cory's and geos. I also use a 5 gallon bucket to rinse. Pour in a half a bag at a time, take an open ended garden hose on full blast and sink my hand to the bottom of the sand. Rotating the water flow around to make sure all the sand get blasted/rinsed thoroughly. Anything light enough to float to the surface will skim off the top of the bucket as the water overflows. Once it looks fairly clear, I dump out most of the water and repeat the process one more time. On the second rinse the water will start out much more clear, but you will see the last of the oily residue floating to the surface and skimming off. Only takes a couple minutes to do each bag.
 

Rass

Aimara
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Oct 3, 2005
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Also make sure you get the coarse grit. Tractor supply carrys two grits and I always forget which is which. But the finer grit may not sink as easily.
 

james99

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Mar 3, 2009
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Also make sure you get the coarse grit. Tractor supply carrys two grits and I always forget which is which. But the finer grit may not sink as easily.
Thanks for the suggestions. I did make sure to get the coarser of the 2 they had. The other one was a super fine grit.
 

CMP168

Feeder Fish
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Aug 10, 2020
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I've been researching the same thing. I just purchased a large 375 acrylic and wanted to make sure things like plecos would be fine skimming across the bottom and the pleco pic with the BDS makes me feel better. Guess a trip into tractor supply will be happening in the next couple of days.
 

DMD123

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Oct 23, 2009
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I bought a bag of the stuff from Tractor supply and took about 1 cup worth out to test. Got a few little fine metal pieces but overall good with no large pieces. It looks really good when wet. The only thing I didnt like is all the weird shaped pieces.

This is the stuff wet
IMG_20200805_184358698.jpg
This is some of what was collected in my 1 cup sample... there was more of these odd shaped pieces
IMG_20200805_184318704.jpg
In the end Ive decided not to use it but I can see the appeal. If anyone is in the Tacoma WA area and wants the 50lb bag, your welcome to it. (Free)
 

CMP168

Feeder Fish
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Aug 10, 2020
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Have others had issues with the metal pieces? Should I run a magnetic through the sand after rinsing?
 

DMD123

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Oct 23, 2009
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Have others had issues with the metal pieces? Should I run a magnetic through the sand after rinsing?
I would do it before you rinse it. I think you would catch more metal when dry. I would especially run a magnet through it if you use magnetic glass cleaner (Mag-Float) to clean glass, that way you wont pick up any metal pieces and scratch things up.
 
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