SammyJ

I bought .5 cubic feet of play sand today. I am guessing its around 40 to 50 pounds in weight. First of all how do I rinse this stuff off so I can put it in a tank? Second am I going to risk damaging my "new used" tank if I put all of this sand into it? 1.5 x 30 comes out to 45 pounds so I am thinking I will be alright but just want to make sure.

Nick G

I changed my 90gal subsrate to sand a few weeks ago, and it took about 8hrs to do. To wash the sand put about 4 inchs in a bucket at a time, and wash it under a running tap until the water runs clear, this can take a while. To avoid a mini cycle, take some of your existing substrate and put it into a stocking, and hang this by the filter intake, this will retain some of the benefical bacteria in the substrate.

MissMTS

Holy cow!!! 8 hrs? I am converting my 75 gallon to sand this week. I hope it doesn't take me that long!

SammyJ

The sand does not run over the top of the bucket and down the drain? I have used that technique for gravel but that was heavy enough to stay at the bottom of the bucket.

Looks like I have my work cut out for me. The sand fills half of a 5 gallon bucket. The other half is filled with water. I figure if I let it sit while I am at work some of the silt will settle out into layers in the water as well as wet it so its easier to work with. *crosses fingers*.

My heater and filter may come Monday or Tuesday so I guess I have some time to get all that sand rinsed and put in the tank.

griffin

just a few words of encouragement: i converted my tank to sand, and it was relatively quick - just a few hours, including rinsing. i think the majority of the time was spent on arranging and rearranging the plants :P but once you have sand, the maintenance will be soooooooooo much easier and faster.

as for rinsing the sand, i would fill my bucket about halfway with sand, then fill to just below the top with water and stir the sand around, let it slightly settle, and then dump out the surface water with the small particles. letting it sit while you're at work might seem easier, but it's the silt that you're trying to get rid of since it'll cause cloudiness

hope that was helpful to someone

catfishlover123

I agree with griffin.