Washing substrate

[Emma_fish]

So I ham getting a 20gal tannn on and I will need to wash the sand substrate before using it can I use water out of my hosepipe to wash the sand or do I have to use RODI saltwater ?

 

[brandon429]

Use tap water and rinse until it’s clean

final rinse is ro

at no point does bacteria matter your tank doesn’t require sandbed bacteria to live. Rinsing items in tap water doesn’t remove all the bacteria, tap water is not a sterilizing agent, cleaners from bottles are antibacterial. The only type of sand we don’t pre rinse is live sand, where you raise up a handful and it has wiggling creatures in it. The kind of sand you’re about to use has zero animals in it, we pre rinse in tap water final rinse in ro. You might have to rinse for forty minutes straight to get it clean, is why we use tap.

 

[Emma_fish]

Use tap water and rinse until it’s clean

final rinse is ro

at no point does bacteria matter your tank doesn’t require sandbed bacteria to live. Rinsing items in tap water doesn’t remove all the bacteria, tap water is not a sterilizing agent, cleaners from bottles are antibacterial. The only type of sand we don’t pre rinse is live sand, where you raise up a handful and it has wiggling creatures in it. The kind of sand you’re about to use has zero animals in it, we pre rinse in tap water final rinse in ro. You might have to rinse for forty minutes straight to get it clean, is why we use tap.

Ok thank you so just to be sure I can use my hose then use RODI saltwater for final rinse?

 

[Midrats]

Straight tap water, I've never flushed with rodi, let alone salted rodi.

 

[Super Fly]

tap water, Melev shows you how here

 

[brandon429]

I agree tap is it. Like above even used alone nbd

I type the final rinse in ro to prevent loss of the entire web in revolt, just get the tap pre rinse took five years to ok in the hobby

tap isn’t that harmful irl

 

[Dal-Reef]

Just use you water house and wash in small batches until the water runs clear. It takes time so just keep washing and dumping the cloudy water. Here few pics from my build thread.

 

[brandon429]

It’s literally astounding nobody sells truly pre rinsed sand. The directions directly on the bag say it’s already rinsed. pic one I cannot distinguish from curd.

 

[Silent]

There is a great thread about it here:

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

I'm sure @brandon429 has heard about it

 

[Dal-Reef]

It’s literally astounding nobody sells truly pre rinsed sand. The directions directly on the bag say it’s already rinsed. pic one I cannot distinguish from curd.

I agree. A few tanks I setup I could not stand the white dust all over everything in the tank sump, on all the pumps return lines everything covered in it and takes a while to clear. Just easier to wash in my opinion. If you don't wash want hurt anything though.

 

[brandon429]

Fully agreed, our systems will aggregate, settle the dust over time.

hey look at this massive collection of fails tho:

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

www.reef2reef.com

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/


the bags should have a little skull and crossbones graphic for non rinsers heh