washing sand... necessary?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Joe M;5031889; said:
Did you happen to use Leslie's brand PFS? I bought that for my 125 and it required little to no rinsing. I was so happy. :)

I do think the stuff that the OP bought would need to be washed for sure.

The first time I bought play sand i was like dang this stuff is dirty. Took me almost a good hour to wash 50lbs. I was expecting the same from pool filter from Leslie's and boy was I surprised.
 
lol ill wash it, it definately wasnt expensive, 4.99 for 50 lbs. thanks for the tips! i guess ill just chip away at it. add another day till i get this up :(
 
fishmamma;5031855; said:
I agree as well but...

I used pool filter sand for the first time last week sometime.. so I'm doing my thing.. bathtub, bucket, sand in bucket... water on full blast.. put the bucket underneath the water to clean and I start stiring... so water turns out clear, first go around.. so I'm thinking I'm just seeing things.. so I do it again.. I'm thinking SOB this shizzy is clean!!!! There was no point in me prewashing it.. I mean I might have cleaned off very minimal.. but for me not signifigant enough to spend my whole night there by the tub..

so instead I ripped the bag a big o'l hole and poured straight in... step stool and all!! Water is crisp and clean.. I have no complaints...


Same with me. Brand was Mystic White. No washing was needed and it never clouded
 
It really depends on your filtration system for those who said it would screw your filters.

If you have a sump filtration, don't really have to wash them.
Just add a micron sock (the smaller the better) and grab all those tiny particles.
 
If you have one, use a wheelebarrel it will hold a couple hundred pounds. Shove a hose in there and rinse till clean! You'll still have hump all that wet sand to the tank!

Sounds like a great tank build, be sure to take pics and post em!!!!
 
I strictly use the leslies brand pfs. My latest setup I used 250lbs in my 220 when I set it up. I didn't rinse it and there was no issues what so ever. Only a slight film on the surface, but my overflow/filter socks took care of it in about 5 mins. Didn't even clog 1 sock.
 
We'll be adding about 400 lbs of CaribSea Ivory Coast Sand to our 300 gallon Deep Dimension tank soon, and we plan on washing it fairly well before we put it in. I'm guessing this stuff won't cloud the water too bad, but at least I can get most of the larger particulates out first.

IvoryCoastSand400Pounds.jpg


50PoundBags.jpg
 
wow is that even sand? looks like its inbetween gravel and sand, i went the cheap route when my lfs had it 1 dollar per pound and i need prob 500-600 lbs. gtg start washing i guess. not too worried about sand messing up my pump, its a reeflo hammerhead and i hope it can handle some small sand particles, but i dont want cloudy water so i will be washing for a while i guess
 
you could get like a 55gal trash can or smaller and fill it with the sand and run a hose in it. itd rinse it quicker since you be able to do more at a time?
 
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