Play sand in a reef tank

by **jnelson1983** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 11:05 pm

So rinse, rinse, rinse, rinse....keep rinsing and rinse some more?

I got 100lbs of play sand, no mention of silica in it. Looks somewhat like sand you'd see on the beach...slightly finer though. Anyhow, I went through above 400 gallons of pure hot water rinsing this stuff out. At this point, the water is only slightly cloudy now when i mix the sand around. So I have a few questions:

1) How much more do I have to rinse it?
2) Do i have to soak it in water for a while to absorb any anti-fungal or other chemicals out of the sand?
3) Do I have to boil the sand?
4) Is there anything I'm forgetting.
5) Should I put my skimmer on the water in this thing to pull stuff out of the water (I was told the skimmer can pull copper and medications out of my tank)

And the BIG question:

6) Will this help or function with (or as) a Deep Sand Bed?

by **fihsboy** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 2:59 am

lots of questions there. Ill list them in the order you asked them

1) you cant rinse enough. :) If you think it should be rinsed again.....do it again. The more thats out of it now, is that much less you will have to take out of it in your tank.

2) same thing....if you want to soak it in saltwater.....it wont hurt. You could even jump start it first that way. :)

3)Nah.......boiling......nah. never heard of it.

4) Not that I know of. when was the last time you changed your underwear? I always forget that. :)

5) Always run your skimmer. ALWAYS. As long as theres water to run it......run it. :) It will always help your water......as for pulling out medications and copper.......never heard that.......I think they are full of poo.

6) THE BIG ONE.......Yeah, as long as it stays stirred by sand sifting creatures your sand will do the trick. Maybe a few cucumbers and nassarious snails out the ying yang. :)

by **Snowboss4492** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 10:01 am

carbon will pull meds ...........not sure on the copper, the other reason you hear people saying to turn off the skimmers is because they get suspended solids out of the column, so if you have cloudy sandy water for a few days ................i would turn my skimmer off as i dont want that grit and crap in my skimmer making it explode {not litterally} - the "dust" will settle and calm down, if you've cleaned that sand like mad it will settle in a couple days and be fine -running your skimmer is completely up to you..........................IMO its risky......................double up on the a filter sock if you have a sump or whatever your useing as a pre filiter to catch big junk and let it go

BOSS

by **fihsboy** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 12:19 pm

Yeah, its a pain the rear to clean your skimmer after all the dust. I ran it......because I had fish. And I didnt want them to suffer any longer than they had to. It took me a while to add sand. And its going to when I add my Caribsea Oolite. You would go through three or four filter socks, but thankfully they are easy to clean. :) Certainly do like boss said and do a filter sock. Its like crack in cleaning.

by **kelbri** » Thu Jul 02, 2009 3:42 pm

I have a question to add. What would it be like with a korilla pointed at it? I'm guessing you would not want something directed right at it or it would blow up too much dust. I too have a bag of playsand (haven't checked if it's silica free or not yet) that I would love to use.

by **jnelson1983** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 7:22 pm

I picked up some play sand at Lowes, and I've been rinsing it extensively. Anyhow, with the whole silica issue, how soon would I know if there was silica in the sand? And how long would it take for me to know it.

by **Snowboss4492** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 12:43 am

silica is basically regular sand.............glass etc..................it tends to promote algae growth so you'll know it pretty quick i would think, serial32 used lowes playsand and really never had any issues with algae in a fresh water tank, i cant speak to salt systems though

by **fihsboy** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 2:14 am

Cyno aka red slime feeds directly on silica. you will know within a week or two. :)

by **jnelson1983** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 3:36 am

Ok... but do I have to worry about it killin the fish at all? or would that risk come from any chemicals or whatnot that are on the sand itself?

by **saltwaterpimp** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 3:59 am

"Cyno aka red slime feeds directly on silica" Do you have readings to back this up ? From what i understand Nitrate,phosphate,lighting and ph are common sources for cyno. Your playsand will be fine, and your going to get your normal cycles of all algaes no matter what Substrate you use.

SWP

Play sand in a reef tank

31 posts • Page 1 of 4

Play sand in a reef tank

31 posts • Page 1 of 4