Came up with a method for rinsing sand

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K

Keeper of the Ropes

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 29, 2006
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Tried it tonight (early this morning, whatever) and it worked GREAT. I had 60 lbs of sand to rinse and put in a 55 gal. I went to Walmart and picked up a 50' garden hose (off brand, somethin like 6 bucks), then got a bucket and got all the fish in the tank out. Cut the hose in half. Using one piece, attach the end to the faucet on your sink, and leave the other end in the tank. You may need to anchor it - use a hair clip - they work great. Take the other piece and stick it down the drain of the sink so it won't budge (be careful here... I flooded my kitchen twice). Use the end going down the drain to syphon water out of the tank, while using the other to pump water back into the sink. With the 25' of hose you have to use on each section, you can easily do this over your living room or dining room or whatever you need to. Dump the sand straight into the tank and let the hoses go. Pop in a movie, get some cheetohs and a beer, and let it rinse itself. Stir it up every once in awhile to get more sediment to rise to the top of the water. If your output is stronger than your input, or vice versa, just crimp the hose and - ta da - tie another hairclip around it while the other hose catches up.

Including set up, rinsing the sand, complete set up of decoration, and clean up, took 3 hours on a 55 gallon. AND I got to watch a movie, pay my bills, and play games online in the process.
IMA GENIUS!
 
Not to take away from your idea, but you could have purchased pool sand (or evenblasting sand) and not had to worry about interupting your movie to check the water flow and saved the water for W/C's.

In no way am I refuting your idea, on the contrary, I applaud your effort. If you didn't want to try something to benifit your fish that would be condemning.

What kind of fish do you have in there? Big-Small How long have you had them?

Congrats on your discovery/effort/inventiveness.

Good Luck and keep the ideas coming,

Dr Joe

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I am glad that it worked out for you. Me and unattended hoses just do not get along though. I put the hose in the pool just to top it off and I ended up "topping it off" for two days.
 
That's called watering your yard (and your neighbors')

2 days huh? I've only made it 6 hours & one shock treatment so far.

I couldn't concentrate on the movie knowing that there was water even running in the house.

But if it works for them...

Dr Joe

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Must be part of pool ownership. The sand is so porous here that the neighbors yard was not involved. I drained the pool half way while sinking a well (used a pool pump). The pump flowed about 4500gph and made a puddle only about 10x15 and at best six inches deep.
 
I dont know what pool filter sand you guys bought, but the "washed" pool filter sand i bought from Rec Warehouse was silty as hell! I had to wash it as much or more than the lowes leveling sand I used in another tank. And it was 8$/50lbs, like 3x as much money.
 
I bought 150 lbs of playground sand over a month ago. I just took a 5 gallon bucket and filled it with sand. Then I took my garden hose and shoved it down to the bottom of the bucket and let it go for 5 minutes. I tilted my bucket so more silt could filter out. After 5 min I stired the bucket really good and moved the hose around the bucket. I continued to do this till the wter in the buchet was clear. This process took me a little over half an hour.
I managed to fit a 50lb bag into a 5gal bucket. So I had to do this 3 times. A little time consuming but worth the wait.
When I put the sand into the tank I still had some cloudiness. The 150 gallon tank was 95% clear by the morning. I love this method! A bucket, hose, sand , and ice cold beer!:D
Anyways I hope this helps!
 
OSCARLOVER;507863; said:
I bought 150 lbs of playground sand over a month ago. I just took a 5 gallon bucket and filled it with sand. Then I took my garden hose and shoved it down to the bottom of the bucket and let it go for 5 minutes. I tilted my bucket so more silt could filter out. After 5 min I stired the bucket really good and moved the hose around the bucket. I continued to do this till the wter in the buchet was clear. This process took me a little over half an hour.
I managed to fit a 50lb bag into a 5gal bucket. So I had to do this 3 times. A little time consuming but worth the wait.
When I put the sand into the tank I still had some cloudiness. The 150 gallon tank was 95% clear by the morning. I love this method! A bucket, hose, sand , and ice cold beer!:D
Anyways I hope this helps!
Click to expand...

That is the same method I use too, It works great. No mess, no clean up.
 
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