The fallacy of the bottle method for cleaning sand

I have always had an issue with bottle method of cleaning sand. The BIG assumption is that once the sand comes out of the bottle, it's clean. There is a way to tell if it's clean.....

That LITTLE bit of sand fouled up the bucket of water. Clean? Not hardly.

 

Yuk! although gravel isn't much better, use a gravel vac on it, think you have got everything, go do it again and you still get the same amount of .....literally, coming out!!!!!!

 

"And just like magic, Jaysee's hand *disappears*!!"

 

Ewww.

 

Good thing I saw this before I put in my sand..

I saw a couple of videos succeeding on using the bottle method. Do you have any idea why yours turned out cloudy?

 

Good thing I saw this before I put in my sand..

I saw a couple of videos succeeding on using the bottle method. Do you have any idea why yours turned out cloudy?

Because the sand was dirty! lol

 

It's not a matter of succeeding. In my video I demonstrate that the bottle method does in fact deposit the sand with minimal cloudiness to the water. That's where the other videos stop. I took it a step farther by stirring it to demonstrate that though it did not cloud the water, it is still plenty dirty which means it can cloud the water in the future when you disturb the sand.

 

Sorry, I'm a newb at sand. So if I actually washed it regularly, the water won't cloud up if I disturb it?

 

Sorry, I'm a newb at sand. So if I actually washed it regularly, the water won't cloud up if I disturb it?

Yupp that works better my sand came out clean as can be with the bucket method.

 

Yes, you can stir it up in the tank and it won't get cloudy.

 

Thanks! I guess I have to sacrifice my back for a clean sand tank

 

when I used sand, I never even bothered to rinse it. I put it in, put a plate (dinner, or smaller) on the bottom, and then put a colander strainer thing over the tank....and filled it that way. I do this to all my tanks too. I always have very minimal cloudiness.

I have to say i've never even heard of the bottle method

nice bracelet btw

 

You can do a little at a time so you don't strain yourself

https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/washing-and-adding-sand-to-a-tank.116758/

 

Interesting. I can't speak for the other guy, but I haven't had any issues with the three separate tanks I've done using this method.

It looked like your sand was very fine. Maybe play sand? Mine isn't that fine except for the black sand in my video and I had issues with that making little black air balls.

All of my sand came from Petco. Where did yours?

 

It's pool filter sand - it's not that fine - heavy enough to not get sucked out with the vacuum tube.

Once I finish with the PFS I am going to use Tahitian moon sand.

This is after the sand has been cleaned in the bucket. I put a LOT more sand in it, and you can still see the bottom. The water being poured out is also pretty clear. Still needs another wash cycle or two.

 

Have you tried with any other types of sand?

 

I just finished with the Tahitian moon sand! Dirty dirty dirty.

 

Yuck, yuck, yuck!

But do you think the color of this sand just made it look more dirty than the tan sand you first used?

 

Yuck, yuck, yuck!

But do you think the color of this sand just made it look more dirty than the tan sand you first used?

If the sand settles as fast as PFS does and wasn't still floating in the water, then clear water is still clear water, and dirty water is dirty water.

 

There's more dust and small particles in the TMS, which is why it's dirtier. I do think that the color of the sand makes it look worse - the PFS bottle was pretty dirty too. Visibility through each bottle was zero.

 

Uh, I see what you two are getting at now... Yeah, the darker particles would make things look worse but doesn't necessarily mean there was more partlcles from theTMS than the PFS, just darker so looks worse. I think I'm having a dah moment.

 

Well, apparently it works with some sand, not others. If you do it, then it should be tested in a bucket first.

I have another unopened bag of Petco black sand. Do you want me to video it again with the stirring?

 

Jaysee's gunna be happy to see me say this: When I was rinsing my PetCo sand, I realized all the crud and dust was at the *bottom* of the bag, and not at the top. That's why your experiment worked so well, because you didn't get any of the dirty sand.

 

Well, heck, I'll shake up the bag.

 

I think it's just that the petco sand it that clean. I would use the bottle instead of the bucket if I had petco sand, based on your experience. The visibility through your bottle was pretty good, indicating that the sand was clean. But when the water in the bottle is that dirty, then that's an indication that the sand needs to be cleaned more thoroughly.

 

When I was rinsing mine in a net, when I got to the bottom, water came through completely black. Stained my sink.... LOL

 

Well see, now I can't wait to see ZeeZ's next vid!

 

Stained my hand washing it in the bucket...

 

Great demonstration videos Jaysee.

 

So I've done tones of reading on this topic as yesterday I did the switch from gravel to sand.

I must have read every topic in this and other forums on the best easiest method to do the swap.

Now having done 3 aquariums with 2 different brands of sand, I have a concrete answer on which one is best...

It depends on the bag of sand you have. Yeah sorry, not a concrete of an answer as I had hoped for.

With the Pool Filter Sand, it needed a decent amount of rinsing.
Doing the bucket method, it took 5 fill, sit, drain before the water was somewhat clear.
Testing the bottle method made water in the 5 gallon cloudy a little bit on one try. Multiply by 10-20 bottles, could be bad but not too severe.
Tested the pillow case method, seems to work "ok", I would recommend it but it wasn't really pleasant. Really had wet feet, bigger mess, but it did work in cleaning the sand.

Now that being said, I tried the same 3 methods with Carib Sea Super Naturals
The bucket method took only 1 rinse with 1/3 of bag #1. Bag #2 took 3 rinses!
To try the bottle method I did it right in my 30 gallon as there was next to nothing in 1/3 of the sand in a bucket method that I tested. Did the rest of the bag, no cloudy water, the water in the bottle after the pour was pretty clean. When I started to do bag #2 the bottle was far cloudier. Some came out and clouded my tank. So I split the rest of the bag in two to try the bucket method and the pillow case method.
On to pillow case method with Bag#2. Wasn't fun, got more wet feet, cleaned the floor, did’nt worsen the tank cloudiness so it must have worked.

Sooo, I'm sticking to my guns of try a bit of the sand in a pail to judge how dirty it is first. If only one rinse is needed, go with the bottle method. Make sure you have 3 bottles on hand to speed it up, you'll get in a good flow. If the bucket method is just not appealing at all, the bottle method scares you, pillow case it. Rinse the heck out of it outdoors with good shoes . Throw out the pillow case afterwards as I can see it really messing up a washer and plumbing as you can’t get all the sand out of the pillow case.

I did my 30 gallon with fish in it, as it did cloud the water somewhat because of the nasty bag #2, one big water change about 80%, cleared the water no problem.

I did start to take pictures to post, but after seeing this was going to be more of a trial and error and a bit of a process, the pictures got put on the back-burner.

Sorry about the long winded first post, but I felt after all the amazing info I've gotten over months of reading and stealing info and ideas I owed 3 hours of trial and testing and great end results!

 

Thanks for your "experiment" results. I'm sure it will be helpful to someone out there who is changing substrate.

I couldn't find Tahitian Moon Sand so I used the Petco black sand. I did the bucket method after watching these videos but I think I could of did the bottle method. It was CLEAN. I probably didn't even need to wash it.

 

Thanks for your "experiment" results. I'm sure it will be helpful to someone out there who is changing substrate.

I couldn't find Tahitian Moon Sand so I used the Petco black sand. I did the bucket method after watching these videos but I think I could of did the bottle method. It was CLEAN. I probably didn't even need to wash it.

zeez proved that - petco sand has to be the cleanest sand out there

 

zeez proved that - petco sand has to be the cleanest sand out there

That's why each bag should be bucket tested first. Even an empty garbage can would do. Just need a bit. Like a 1/4 bag and do it in the bathtub.

 

Welcome to the forum exporteh, and thanks for that contribution!

 

Thanks for the videos JaySee.

I hope your watch didn't get sand in it! The videos were quiet. Perhaps you could sing for us next time Get your face in there and say "HELLO".

Ken

 

Thanks for the videos JaySee.

I hope your watch didn't get sand in it! The videos were quiet. Perhaps you could sing for us next time Get your face in there and say "HELLO".

Ken

I take off my jewelry when I am bucket washing

You know, I always add music to my videos so I generally don't think about saying anything.

 

nooo you were wearing a bracelet in that vid.

 

nooo you were wearing a bracelet in that vid.

I wasn't cleaning the sand in that video - I was demonstrating that it wasn't clean. You'll notice in the TMS video that I am not wearing a bracelet or ring, because I had to bucket wash the PFS after using the bottle method