How do I clean used aquarium substrate.

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Brickosaurus

Brickosaurus

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Dec 11, 2022
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I recently purchased a used 55g aquarium. And the tank has substrate already in it (gravel on top, soil on bottom)

But the tank also sat in the owners garage for a while, so it had some leaves and bugs in it. What would be the best strategy for cleaning the soil part of the substrate? Can it be done or should I just try to get new substrate. Any suggestions are welcome!
 
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Brickosaurus said:
I recently purchased a used 55g aquarium. And the tank has substrate already in it (gravel on top, soil on bottom)

But the tank also sat in the owners garage for a while, so it had some leaves and bugs in it. What would be the best strategy for cleaning the soil part of the substrate? Can it be done or should I just try to get new substrate. Any suggestions are welcome!
Click to expand...
I personally would trash the substrate and replace with new.
 
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Brickosaurus said:
I recently purchased a used 55g aquarium. And the tank has substrate already in it (gravel on top, soil on bottom)

But the tank also sat in the owners garage for a while, so it had some leaves and bugs in it. What would be the best strategy for cleaning the soil part of the substrate? Can it be done or should I just try to get new substrate. Any suggestions are welcome!
Click to expand...
I think you could clean it, just scrape the gravel off the top and rinse in a bucket and then rinse the dirt, but I would just buy new substrate, it’s not worth the effort in my opinion
 
Whatever nutrients were in that soil are likely either long gone or worse. If you've got more time than folding money it wouldn't hurt to dump that stuff in a 5 gallon bucket and take the garden hose to it. Shouldn't take too much to get all the dirt out and leave the gravel. I know there are guys like Papa Fish or whatever that are big on dirt but if it were mine I'd leave that nonsense out. That old boot has some seriously misleading stuff coming out of his head and some revolting tanks.
 
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Trouser Bark said:
Whatever nutrients were in that soil are likely either long gone or worse. If you've got more time than folding money it wouldn't hurt to dump that stuff in a 5 gallon bucket and take the garden hose to it. Shouldn't take too much to get all the dirt out and leave the gravel. I know there are guys like Papa Fish or whatever that are big on dirt but if it were mine I'd leave that nonsense out. That old boot has some seriously misleading stuff coming out of his head and some revolting tanks.
Click to expand...
I’ve been thinking about using my tanks as a toilet to get my nitrates up
 
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