Cleaning sand- stupid question

**Countrylovin4evr** · 08-29-2011, 09:01 PM

Ok so I got my sand. Now am cleaning it. But how clean is clean? I mean, if I run water on it all day won't I be losing all the sand? Does that make sense? I know I'm washing out debris and stuff but now I see sand washing out of my bucket. It's small play sand so hopefully it's going to work. Water is still very dirty looking but no more debris. I have my 30 gal tank and its 50lbs of sand. So almost 2lbs per gal. Husband thought that would never be enough. lol I may have to get a little extra but I don't think I'd need too much more. Is it going to be safe for my filter though? Should I keep some of my gravel to keep the sand down since it's a small sand?

**labnjab** · 08-29-2011, 09:37 PM

I'm lazy and don't even rinse sand anymore. Just put it in the tank, do a few water changes and it should be clear in a few days

**angel_love** · 08-29-2011, 09:42 PM

I used 40 pounds of sand in my 30 gallon and it was more than enough. 50 pounds will give you like a 5" sand bed lol.

Keep rinsing til the water runs clean. Play sand is dirty....when the water on top is clear then you are good to go. You don't want that dirt in your tank. I put mine in a huge bucket and washed it with the hose, I dug my hand in there and smooshed it around. I rinsed and rinsed until the water was clear, took about a good 20 minutes or so to clean a 20 pound bag.

You have to let the sand settle before you turn on your filter, after it settles you shouldn't have a problem. You don't need gravel to keep it down, it will stay down once its settles.

Next time opt for crayola play sand, its virtually clean already...no dust at all when I rinsed it. And it comes in pretty colors :)

**Countrylovin4evr** · 08-29-2011, 10:56 PM

Hmm should have known crayola would have something. Oh well. Yeah I know I don't want dirt... I just felt that I was washing all my sand away. lol. And I was going to get the black sand but I just felt that I really wanted to get started on this (and later have money for Christmas for kids) so I went with cheap stuff. $4 for 50 lbs verses $20 for 20 lbs... hmmm. I try to be practical. I have two kids in diapers!

**angel_love** · 08-29-2011, 11:41 PM

I'm sure the sand you have will work fine, it will just take a little more effort to clean it. I know how you feel with the money situation, I probably would have gone for the cheaper stuff too. If you can find crayola its about $6 for a 20 pound bag.

**Countrylovin4evr** · 08-30-2011, 12:15 AM

yeah but I've never seen it in my stores. Not bad price though. ANyway I am getting clean and now I see that it is getting clean and not losing all the sand. Not a big deal. I still may get an small bag of crayola and add color or do somethning cool with it. I had wanted black but again I just didn't want the price.

How long is it safe to leave filter off for when I have tank cycled so I don't lose bacteria? I only have the one tank so it's stocked I'm just replacing.