Should I clean my sand?

[clownfishowner225]

I recently bought a new 13.5 nano tank and forgot to rinse the live sand before adding it. The tank does settle and becomes clear, and once and a while I’ll stir it up in the tank to get the filter to clean what it can. I’m wanting to know if I have to take all the sand out and rinse it, or if it will be fine if I leave it becuase it does settle?

 

[brandon429]

Yes take it apart, rinse the sand in tap water until clear, final rinse in ro, proceed

 

[Alexoss]

you shouldn't clean "live" sand, or you'll get rid of the good bacterias.
Cloudiness will settle with time.

 

[Azedenkae]

I recently bought a new 13.5 nano tank and forgot to rinse the live sand before adding it. The tank does settle and becomes clear, and once and a while I’ll stir it up in the tank to get the filter to clean what it can. I’m wanting to know if I have to take all the sand out and rinse it, or if it will be fine if I leave it becuase it does settle?

Nah you're fine. No need to take it out again. Your filter (well, mechanical filtration in your filtration system in particular) will keep catching particulates until yeah, it'll be relatively clear long term.

 

[RedReefer]

I clean my sand every water change. I would just clean it weekly or bi-weekly with water changes.

 

[brandon429]

live sand bacteria dont make one measurable difference in a reef tank, you'd clean it as recommended and proceed with a cloudless reef. forums made up literally all information regarding reef tank sand, its mostly untrue.

any reef tank on this entire board or any other reef board: we can remove your entire sandbed all at once, without any cycle. that is the sole proof that sandbed bacteria do not matter, having cloudless control over your sand matters.

 

[elorablue]

I recently bought a new 13.5 nano tank and forgot to rinse the live sand before adding it. The tank does settle and becomes clear, and once and a while I’ll stir it up in the tank to get the filter to clean what it can. I’m wanting to know if I have to take all the sand out and rinse it, or if it will be fine if I leave it becuase it does settle?

No need to rinse live sand. Did you add in the water that came in the bag? Did you add the little bag of "whatever" that came with it?
The only reason it's still cloudy is you keep stirring it up. Just let it settle and it'll be clear in a couple days.
Gonna need some rocks in there!

btw. Fergus as in Ontario?

 

[brandon429]

Elora, does what you're making up there align here

Add new sand without rinse​

Hi guy, I just add new special grade sand without rinse. I added slowly 1/3 bag per day, but didn’t rinse. My tank seem cloudy, but I have skimmer and 2 filter socks. My tank has sps, lps and 9 fishes. Should I expect a mini cycle. I concern my coral and fish die tomorrow

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/so-i-didnt-rinse.592624/
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/sandbed-stirred-up.544852/#post-5723606

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/very-cloudy-water-after-sand-and-rock.559386/#post-5735864
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/question-about-vacuuming-sand-bed.616059/ https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/new-tank-milky-cloudy.616519/

Ocean direct live sand from CaribSea​

Has anyone used ocean direct sand and what are your thoughts? I used it in my nano and noticed that any sand movement clouds the area pretty quickly. Any fixes for this or is it just part of having this sand


10 days, still won't settle and clouds fully
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/cloudy-tank.576835/

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/bummer-could-use-some-help.558301/

 

[brandon429]

as you can see, the risk of long term clouding exists, but that's unapparent if you dont actually work in sand threads.


here's fifty pages of actual tap rinsing, as recommended

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[elorablue]

*sigh*. Once again you're missing the point. This isn't a cycling question, the OP simply wants to know if they should rinse their sand now because the tank is cloudy.

 

[brandon429]

it might seem petty to have a disagreement over sand rinsing...but if you click on the work thread above you can see that hesitancy resolved has saved about two million dollars in reef animals vs the completely unfounded fear regarding bacteria and sand access. We literally save more reef animals showing folks the truth vs made up forum claims with no basis in reality.

one of the reasons this reefer would rinse their sand and cause cloudlessness, vs take the risk shown above and that's half the example links we have, is because initial clouding from cycling issues is what we watch out for in new tanks and if sand clouding is present (unnecessarily) then it masks the critical issue.

The reason to be exacting vs making up stuff in reefing is because it saves more animals than making up stuff you read from someones post, and then transmitting that as truth.

any sand from a bag is pre rinsed in tap water, then ro, for total success and a 0% unhappy rate. Of course you can skip that, and install cloudy sand and it might work out, it does for some but not all

that same hesitancy though regarding bacteria will factor into tank losses one day as well, we show, so a second initial benefit of pre rinsing is that's most folk's first venture into the truth and into total reef control that comes from actual work threads, vs simply made up rules that have no papers in research or any aspect of foundation.

the learned, trained, unfounded fear of bacterial loss in a reef tank contributes to absolutely massive losses via invasion, move and upgrade errors, they're on file in the work thread.

Im skeptical of anyone’s sandbed advice when they have zero links to show for any claims.

 

[Azedenkae]

*sigh*. Once again you're missing the point. This isn't a cycling question, the OP simply wants to know if they should rinse their sand now because the tank is cloudy.

Lol, without even seeing who you are responding to, I know who you are responding to. >_<"

*Pats*

 

[Quietman]

If the sand settles and looks ok, you're fine. No need to take it out and rinse it...bit of a pain to do that and it won't add any value or improve anything in the short or long term. Plus it's what it's designed for (as you can tell there are debates on the effectiveness of live sand) but at worst, it doesn't hurt and best it adds some bacteria...taking it all out and rinsing isn't going to do much either way. Sand selection doesn't make or break a reef tank* unless you're getting into deep sand beds - and lord, you don't wanna start that discussion.

*The exception is using old sand from another tank - don't do that.

 

[NowGlazeIT]

Yea the tank is too young to worry about disrupting cycles with removing sand.
Here’s the deal
Rinsing sand has huge benefits and the only negative I can recall is the bacteria population.
If you put a handful of your sand in a water bottle with some water, shake it up and if it stays cloudy longer then a few seconds then your sand is dirty. Assuming your not using like super ultra fine sand.
As for the bacteria, it will grow right back, especially if your cycling with bottled bacteria. You can also just keep agitating your sand bed in your tank till all the dust and detritus make it’s way to your filtration.

 

[brandon429]

It’s amazing how even with links shows two week unresolved clouding, folks keep making up facts about sand.

you literally have six years of proof above, don’t click it, just make up stuff. Nobody’s cycle was stalled in our work threads, pure false statement there.


the crowd is telling you to doubt bacteria, over and over, this is why our sand access thread exists - to mitigate the final stages of this doubt when the tank has problems. You have the chance here to start this nano accurately, for long term success, be sure and ask anyone making sandbed rules for their work threads to see how the advice panned out for many, vs 1

 

[NowGlazeIT]

If the sand settles and looks ok, you're fine. No need to take it out and rinse it...bit of a pain to do that and it won't add any value or improve anything in the short or long term. Plus it's what it's designed for (as you can tell there are debates on the effectiveness of live sand) but at worst, it doesn't hurt and best it adds some bacteria...taking it all out and rinsing isn't going to do much either way. Sand selection doesn't make or break a reef tank* unless you're getting into deep sand beds - and lord, you don't wanna start that discussion.

*The exception is using old sand from another tank - don't do that.

I agree for the most part. For me it depends on the sand, I use heavier sand now because I hate cloudiness. Some smaller sand grains will give the effect of cloudiness every time when disturbed. Bigger sand grains won’t do this(if the sand is clean).
Either way I always rinse now. Because when you see all the crap leave the sand, then watch the water go from muggy to crystal clear.....theres no going back from that

 

[brandon429]

Clownfish owner

read 30 mins of the sand rinse thread and click the work examples. message the entrants in the thread for statements on outcomes, then compare that to the info you're being presented here let me know which you find to be reliable. a third reason we pre rinse comes from the section in post #1 of the sand rinse thread where rock slides or powerheads dislodged, and re clouded the tank and irritated corals for days, its specifically in the links provided and specifically excluded here by the umpires as potential issue.


as you can see, there's no benefit to keeping the sandbed in this state, there's total benefit in you prepping it correctly. you have your posts with links, and posts without any links now or in the next five pages, choose where you think the proof exists. good luck on the new nano.
b

*your sand has about an 80% chance or better of self clearing, the harm you incur from the bad advice is the early seed of bacterial doubt, you cannot imagine how much trouble that causes in reefing. Just yesterday, Elora was advising an owner of a completely cycled reef tank that he may not be cycled, and needs to redose ammonia again, preventing this reefer from beginning though his tank was weeks old and had used instant-cycle bottle bac on day one. We'd already proven closure, and the conflicting info simply sets reefers back a mile or two in their system control abilities. too busy doubting

in this thread you have implied and stated consequence from rinsing sand, yet in the 6th year running collection of sand removal/rinse tanks above, you see only perfect outcomes. That's the difference between making up stuff and earning input by actually doing work and logging it.

 

[Quietman]

I agree for the most part. For me it depends on the sand, I use heavier sand now because I hate cloudiness. Some smaller sand grains will give the effect of cloudiness every time when disturbed. Bigger sand grains won’t do this(if the sand is clean).
Either way I always rinse now. Because when you see all the crap leave the sand, then watch the water go from muggy to crystal clear.....theres no going back from tha

My point is if you buy "live sand" rinsing it defeats the purpose and you just paid for nothing - I suppose there are various levels of rinsing. I added "live sand" in my tank at first because well...it made sense. It cleared up and had no sand related issues without rinsing - clouded up for a day and cleared up.

Since then, like you I've been added 2-5mm crushed coral (dry). I rinse that because yeah, why add fine particulate when it serves no purpose.

If I start over, I doubt I go with 'live sand'. I don't have anything against it, and if someone wants to use it, fine I see no issues as it's a fine product. But I personally don't see any value over dry sand and I like the size choices more.

 

[fishface NJ]

No need to remove the sand to rinse. It will settle and the filter remove particles if needed.

 

[Miami Reef]

I would normally say don’t rinse the sand. You really don’t need to because it will become clear as you siphon and stir it…

BUT your tank is pretty small and brand new. Rinsing your sand can be pretty beneficial because you are going to have crystal clear sand when you stir it in the future.

90% of people don’t rinse their live sand. You technically aren’t supposed to and I didn’t and I added 300 pounds of it. But if you have the time, go for it.

honestly, with siphoning you sandbed with water changes, it will be clear without needing to manually rinse. It all depends on how much effort you want to put in. Not rinsing and rinsing will give you the same end result.

For the people that say tap kills bacteria…I don’t think so. First, unless you are buying ocean direct sand, this sand was already dried and sifted from the ocean. The company manually adds a dormant bacteria which is not the same bacteria that you will later develop.

And tap doesn’t kill bacteria regardless. If so, we would wash our hands with tap and not use soap. Also, I dipped my rocks in bleach and left them to dry for a week and they were STILL alive! I found a Xenia coral growing on it and I didn’t add any Xenia.

All in all, I wouldn’t waste my time, but being that your tank is so small and manageable, it wouldn’t hurt if you want immediate results.