Bleached sand for reuse...

[Scotty LaBeouf]

I may have made a mistake;Nailbiting I am starting to set up my 30g nano and wanted to reuse my sand. I am doing the bleach and acid bath for my rock and went ahead and bleached my sand too. Is the sand not safe to use now??

Is the Muriatic acid bath worth the risk? Or should I just do a longer vinegar soak? The rocks aren't too bad I just don't want to deal with algae later on. I don't have a proper respirator and I really don't want to mess around with this stuff;Dead


thanks!

 

[Coralfuture]

It needs a good rinse but it will be safe to use once the bleach has been washed away as any remaining bleach will stunt your tank cycling

 

[Ron Reefman]

I don't bleach my used sand, but I don't think you have done any damage by doing it. In fact, you probably have safer sand than I do.

Here is what I do:
Take your sand and put it in a bucket so the sand level is well below the rim (at least 4 to 6 inches). Then take your garden hose with no nozzle on it and turn the water on. Then feed the hose into the sand and allow the bucket to fill and start to overflow. Now pull the hose up and down all over the bucket while the water is overflowing the top of the bucket. The water spilling out should be dirty with all the old detritus. After some time, depending on how much sand you have and how dirty is was, the water should start to run close to clear. Shut off the water. Tip the bucket slowly and spill out as much water as you can. If you are careful, you can tip it so the side of the bucket slopes down and over the next 10 to 20 minutes, all the water will run out... OK, 99% of it. Now let it sit for a day or two and any bleach (chlorine) you added or that is in your city water will evaporate. Chlorine evaporates out of water in 24 to 48 hours even if the sand is still wet. Or you can fill the bucket with RO water as a rinse. Either way, it should be good to go at that point. BTW, I've done this a dozen times over the years and I've never had any issues with my sand.

I hope that helps?

 

[Scotty LaBeouf]

It needs a good rinse but it will be safe to use once the bleach has been washed away as any remaining bleach will stunt your tank cycling

I don't bleach my used sand, but I don't think you have done any damage by doing it. In fact, you probably have safer sand than I do.

Here is what I do:
Take your sand and put it in a bucket so the sand level is well below the rim (at least 4 to 6 inches). Then take your garden hose with no nozzle on it and turn the water on. Then feed the hose into the sand and allow the bucket to fill and start to overflow. Now pull the hose up and down all over the bucket while the water is overflowing the top of the bucket. The water spilling out should be dirty with all the old detritus. After some time, depending on how much sand you have and how dirty is was, the water should start to run close to clear. Shut off the water. Tip the bucket slowly and spill out as much water as you can. If you are careful, you can tip it so the side of the bucket slopes down and over the next 10 to 20 minutes, all the water will run out... OK, 99% of it. Now let it sit for a day or two and any bleach (chlorine) you added or that is in your city water will evaporate. Chlorine evaporates out of water in 24 to 48 hours even if the sand is still wet. Or you can fill the bucket with RO water as a rinse. Either way, it should be good to go at that point. BTW, I've done this a dozen times over the years and I've never had any issues with my sand.

I hope that helps?

Awesome that helps a lot! I put a good amount of dechlor in the buckets as well. Im going to do a heavy rinsing this morning and then let it dry out in the sun.