Given used aquarium sand?

[Lakemontfishlover]

Can I boil my sand to clean from any bacteria?

 

[Cherryshrimp420]

It's been used in another aquarium before? You want to keep those bacteria not clean them off. This is very valuable sand in terms of fishkeeping

 

[ProudPapa]

Please give us more information.

 

[John58ford]

Agreeing with all of the above. Some situations you may want to clean the stuff, other situations you would want to keep it wet and use it "dirty".

If it came from a healthy tank I would just rinse it in a bucket with cool water and then use it, hoping to rinse the general muck out of it but still keep most of the bacteria intact.

If it came from a tank with health issues, I would rinse it in a bucket, then *bake* it on sheet trays, before rinsing again, then use it. The reason for baking, unless this is a comically small amount of sand; it is very difficult to get a 5 gallon stock pot full of sand to a rolling boil, and it's dangerous to have a 5 gallon bucket of fluidized boiling media laying about as it takes a long time to cool sand. Unless you regularly have huge seafood boils or do a bunch of canning/preserves and are commonly working with 50-75 pounds of boiling hot material, I wouldn't recommend the boiling route.

 

[ProudPapa]

. . . If it came from a tank with health issues, I would rinse it in a bucket, then *bake* it on sheet trays, before rinsing again, then use it. The reason for baking, unless this is a comically small amount of sand; it is very difficult to get a 5 gallon stock pot full of sand to a rolling boil, and it's dangerous to have a 5 gallon bucket of fluidized boiling media laying about as it takes a long time to cool sand. Unless you regularly have huge seafood boils or do a bunch of canning/preserves and are commonly working with 50-75 pounds of boiling hot material, I wouldn't recommend the boiling route.

If it came from a tank with health issues I'd throw it away. Sand is cheap.

 

[SparkyJones]

if you rinse it , it will likely be chlorinated water, so yeah, the bacteria is gonna die. you could boil it if you like but wash it out well first, then boil for 10 minutes which would kill anything living in the soil or eggs of anything. drain it, cool and rinse again, then cover with water and dechlorinate it or just let it sit int he water for a few days for the chlorine to dissipate.

Honestly just easier and probably cheaper in the time spent to just buy new sand, but yeah, you could reuse it. if you knew it was safe and didn't come with pests or illnesses. just rising it really good would be enough, but whatever might have been plaguing his tank, will now likely plague your tank, so you need to be sure he does have like fluke or worms or god knows what. living in it.

you can get like 50 pounds of pool filter sand for like $10. still would need to be rinsed out well before using to get rid of fine particles, but won't have things living in it.

 

[ProudPapa]

if you rinse it , it will likely be chlorinated water, so yeah, the bacteria is gonna die. you could boil it if you like but wash it out well first, then boil for 10 minutes which would kill anything living in the soil or eggs of anything. drain it, cool and rinse again, then cover with water and dechlorinate it or just let it sit int he water for a few days for the chlorine to dissipate.

Honestly just easier and probably cheaper in the time spent to just buy new sand, but yeah, you could reuse it. if you knew it was safe and didn't come with pests or illnesses. just rising it really good would be enough, but whatever might have been plaguing his tank, will now likely plague your tank, so you need to be sure he does have like fluke or worms or god knows what. living in it.

you can get like 50 pounds of pool filter sand for like $10. still would need to be rinsed out well before using to get rid of fine particles, but won't have things living in it.

Not necessarily.

First of all, if that was true there would be no need for soap, hot water, or commercial products for cleaning kitchen surfaces. We could just use cold tap water.

Second, if tap water had that high a concentration of chlorine it would likely kill all the beneficial bacteria in our stomachs when we drank it.

Third, contrary to popular belief, scientific studies have found that it's safe to rinse filter media from well established tanks in tap water. You may lose some beneficial bacteria, but it would be a minimal amount that would be quickly replaced.

 

[Lucy]

I'd personally go for the path of least resistance.

It seems easier to rinse new sand than sand that has been in an open container in a garage for three years.

Please give us more information.

Here you go, There's another thread about the history of this sand.
Can I use old aquarium sand that has been in garage. | Freshwater Substrates - Gravel, Sand Forum | 522229

In this thread the OP said they were given the sand.
In the other thread it says it's their sand.

So. maybe not the same sand?

 

[SparkyJones]

Not necessarily.

First of all, if that was true there would be no need for soap, hot water, or commercial products for cleaning kitchen surfaces. We could just use cold tap water.

Second, if tap water had that high a concentration of chlorine it would likely kill all the beneficial bacteria in our stomachs when we drank it.

Third, contrary to popular belief, scientific studies have found that it's safe to rinse filter media from well established tanks in tap water. You may lose some beneficial bacteria, but it would be a minimal amount that would be quickly replaced.

I don't disagree, I wash my sponge prefilter in chlorinated tap water and put it right back every couple days. However I have bacteria in other places in the tank, and it's a big tank and a big filter.
I think rinsing and stirring substrate to get all the junk washed out of it, is a long process though and I can't imagine bacteria making it. If bacteria or a fish can't survive an hour in a glass of tap water, how would the bacteria in the sand make that work out with an hour of washing out debris in a bucket?

"Second, if tap water had that high a concentration of chlorine it would likely kill all the beneficial bacteria in our stomachs when we drank it."
I say the same type of thing about the heath benefits of Alkaline water,,,, what a scam! Our stomach pH would destroy the alkalinity the moment it hits your stomach.

And, yeah chlorinated drinking water is safe. So was Asbestos and Lead, until it wasn't safe. Plenty of studies to suggest chlorinated water causes gut dysbiosis in infants. but the benefits of chorinated water far outweigh any risks associated with it, because non-chlorinated water full of microbes is much worse.