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Originally Posted by smeesus
how do you clean sand? just out of curiosity, and if you cleaned it wouldn't that take all the good bacteria out of it?
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if it's "been dry for a while", you won't be washing any live bacteria away anyway.
Typically you repeatedly rinse it. In theory, until the water runs clear. Depending on what sand you're doing that with, be prepared to spend a LOT of time and water doing that.
I just threw about 4 bags of SouthDown in the 75g Refugium, and filled it with saltwater, no washing.
For those who want to know how to do that and get practically NO clouding, here's how I did it.
1) dump the desired amount of sand into the empty tank.
2) add saltwater until all the sand is saturated, but stop before there is water standing on top of the sand. feel free to poke around a bit to ensure there are no pockets of air/dry sand.
3) cut a sheet of plastic (I used vapor barrier) about 4 inches wider and longer than your sandbed.
4) cover the sandbed with the plastic. work out the bubbles beneath it from the center towards the outside. weight down the plastic if you like. I didn't.
5) fill the tank. let the swirling of the water still.
6) slide the plastic out from one end, so the far end of the sheet slips across the surface of the sand. It might help to hold something against the plastic in the corner, so it doesn't pull up. I think I used a sheet of
acrylic sump divider.
There was almost no disturbance of the sand, and the water was nearly completely free of any clouding sand dust. WAY WAY less than the last time, when I tried that "pour the water in onto a plate setting on the sand" method you hear.
