Home DEPOT SAND???

[Dennis-Pir]

OK just got some sand from home depot, (the stuff you put in a sandbox, aka PLAY SAND lol) anyways I've rinsed the SNOT out of it, but the dust wont' come out of it.... only snot apparently, eee yea... ANYWAYS does anyone out there know of ways to clean the sand?

I've done the good ol` trusted pilow case in sand rinse out NUMEROUS times, and when i say numerous times I really mean NUMEROUS times... like at least a dozen times, and I do not feel like doing it another dozen times.

I am just trying this out on my 20g right now to see what it looks like and how the fish like it, but I plan on getting a 25g and putting sand in it and then and placing my lone Red bellied piranha in from my 55g into a 25g that I am inquiring, and then well ok the sand will go into the 55g, anyways you get the drift, the 20g is the "test tank"....

Anyways the question what are some other methods if any other than the pillow case method to "de-dustify" sand?

Thanks

PS.

If the tank is just a bit dusty, and when i say a 'bit' i mean you can not even see the sand it just doesn't look 'clean'

I can put a coffee filter thru the water and get no residue on the filter of sand at all??????????

Do i just have faulty eyesite?

 

[CAPSLOCK]

What is the pillow case method?

I just rinsed the crap out of it, and didn't do a good enough job since when I added it to the tank I had brown water... but a 98% water changed cleared it right up (no fish in the tank at the time). And even after it ran for a few weeks, it still made everything "dusty," so my mom switched it out to hideous little pointy gravel.

I think if you use pool filter sand or something bigger, you don't get as many tiny little dust particles. The problem with play sand is that it has so much dust and tiny particles, they just don't all come out.

 

[Dennis-Pir]

Well the pillow case method is, pouring some of the sand in the pillow case and then rinsing the crap out of it, to get all the dust out etc... but not the 'big particles of sand' like you said?, Yea i've done numerous water changes I think it just wont' get any cleaner, like you said.... But we'll see I just don't want to go and buy a bunch of fish to put in it, and find out they all die, As bad as it sounds I might just get a few feeders and see how they do, but the reality of the situations is feeders can live in anything so i don't know if that'll do much......

i just really like the way the sand looks.....

meh we'll see...

 

[CAPSLOCK]

I did have fish in there while the water was clear but all the (fake) plants kept getting "dusty". They did fine, and the filter kept the water clear. It just bothered my mom enough for her to change it. I liked the look of the sand a lot better. The pool filter sand also looks really good, and rinses out very easily (compared to the play sand).

 

[Dennis-Pir]

Yea I just turned the filters on the tank and it started to cloud up a bit, I know it'll clear up in say a day, I am just worried it might wreck my filters, I might just go and take a look for some of that other type of sand that you mentioned or just get some sort of gravel for the tank....... hopefully..... the filters make it clear up, if not.................. i'm going to buy new sand anyways lol

 

[FishGeek]

The way that I read on here to do it was to rinse it reall good and put it in your tank. fill you tank about half way and then take all the water out. Do it one more time and then fill up the tank. I did it this way when I used sand and my tank was cleared up pretty quick.

 

[bala_aquarium]

i thought that playsand isnt good for aquariums and that theres a special type you should get

 

[Firebug]

I had the exact same problem when I did this to my 10 gallon aquarium. I was so disappointed with it! But I left it for a few days, and it cleared up. I left the filter off the entire time, and temporarily rehoused the fish until I could think of what to do next. After it had settled down, it was fine, except the first couple of times I did a water change.

 

[tubbs24]

I got the play sand from home depot, and its nearly impossible to get the "dust" out......just let the tank sit for a while, trust me, it WILL clear up

 

[James40]

instead of trying to wash all the sand out at the same time, try washing smaller portions of it... worked for me

 

[exhumed07]

I would think if u had a gravel syphon you could put the sand in let the dust settle then run the syphon through the sand and keep doing that a few times would work. I never tried but it may work.

 

[Dennis-Pir]

Oh i washed smaler portions like you wouldn't believe, but I think I might just let it settle I am going away for the weekend so we'll see by when I come back, if not then well I'm going to get some other type of sand from a nursery or something and make sure that the ingredients are non toxic.. etc.. etc.. etc..

Because there must be a place where you can get cheaper sand rather than at your LFS that just jacks the price because its "Fish Sand"

And I refuse to buy that type of sand lol

 

[exhumed07]

well go to a pool store and buy the white filter sand. I wouldn't know what else to tell you.

 

[FishLuvr]

I found that Home depot's play sand, sucked, and was more work than it was worth, i then changed that tank out and back to gravel, last week i wanted to be brave and try sand again, i found actual AQUATIC SAND from my lfs, it was easier to clean, and looks awesome, and isn't compacting like the play sand does (which causes harmful gas pockets)

My process of rinsing the and was to pour the sand into a 5 gallon bucket (i found one at pep boys) and then fill with water, swirl my arm around in the bucket getting all the sand to swirl around, let it sit and settle, then pour off the dirty murky water, i did this three times, then i filled my tank, (without fish or plants or decor) then syphoned the water out and filled it again. voila clear beautiful tank.

Hope that helps

 

[Orion]

I've used play sand in my tanks and I will never use it agian. It wasn't a matter of getting it clean, but like was stated above it compacts so easy giving you nice anerobic pockets of gas. I, was not impressed with it.

I think that pool filter sand would be a better choice not only will it not compact as easy because of the thicker grain size, but IMHO it looks a bit more natural.

 

[Limi310]

I've never actually had a problem using the Home Depot playsand in my 37 cube. It was maybe cloudyish for 2 hours or so but it cleared up and I haven't had a problem since....not during waterchanges or even when I 'stir' it up with my hand or the gravel vac to prevent the dead spots. I definitely don't have the dust that some of you are speaking of.

My secret? I never actually rinsed it all that much to begin with. I kind of think severe rinsing is over rated.

The only problem I've had with the sand is it's a pain to keep clean because you can see every little speck - either poo or particles that fall off the driftwood.