marlinmero
Marlin
can i use normal tap water to rinse my sand to set up my new tank as long as i try and get alot of the tap water out?
sand rinse
- Thread starter marlinmero
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could work. you could use a de-chlorinator in a bucket of water for your final rinse and maybe pour a bucket of RO/DI through it as well. you could spread it out and let it dry out before you place it in the tank. any chlorine in the water would gas off by the time it dries out. i think some folks will tell you to ditch the sand and get new, but seems like you should be able to make this work.
vinny2261
Well-known member
The stuff in your tap water will not hurt anything. It keeps us alive 
Sometimes tap water will have more impurities and contaminates in it. This is why you use the RODI water, this process removes these impurities and contaminates depending on the filters you put in it. A new system setup should not upset anything, you can also get a water report from your local water department, ( I believe ) if you would like to see what your tap water tests at. But the amount left in your sanr after rinsing it should probably not affect anything.
Sometimes tap water will have more impurities and contaminates in it. This is why you use the RODI water, this process removes these impurities and contaminates depending on the filters you put in it. A new system setup should not upset anything, you can also get a water report from your local water department, ( I believe ) if you would like to see what your tap water tests at. But the amount left in your sanr after rinsing it should probably not affect anything.
marlinmero
Marlin
It ia new sand. But they tell you to rinse it. I tried not rinsing with the first bag and pretty milky. As for my water its pretty clean my tds reads only 70ppm. I ended up just rinsing it in a bucket in the bath tub. Poored all the water out. Wiggled the bucketbrought the water to the top and repeated. It's going to cycle for a month so the little bit of chlorine shouldn't be an issue
Skimmy
SKIM FU
no problem...
i've done this for years....
if you have it available, yes, a final rinse through ro water would be good,
but not really necessary. just get most all the water out.
i regularly rinse and put the sand that i siphon out of the tank with w/c's back in the tank after doing like 5 rinses in tap water.
GRANTED.... my tap water has a tds of 20, so probably the same as a ro filter that has about 6-9 months on it in a bad water neighborhood.
another handy trick is to put the rinsed sand in plastic/ziplock bags then submerge to the bottom and open, much less sand milky goodness...
i've done this for years....
if you have it available, yes, a final rinse through ro water would be good,
but not really necessary. just get most all the water out.
i regularly rinse and put the sand that i siphon out of the tank with w/c's back in the tank after doing like 5 rinses in tap water.
GRANTED.... my tap water has a tds of 20, so probably the same as a ro filter that has about 6-9 months on it in a bad water neighborhood.
another handy trick is to put the rinsed sand in plastic/ziplock bags then submerge to the bottom and open, much less sand milky goodness...
Last edited:
Krish
RF STAFF
To add to that, if the tank has no water in it, you can put in the sand in first and then just put a plate on top of one section of the sand and pour the water in the tank on top of the plate. That will cut down on a milky mess.
Ichthys
Well-known member
Similar question but not new sand, I have 50 pounds or more of live sand that came out of a system I bought, I am working on getting the system up so the sand is in a 20 gallon tank with a heater and powerhead for circ. Lol, its like 10 inches deep in that little tank.... My question is, I would like to clean/rinse the sand before putting it in my new tank, I have been using 5 gallon buckets of half salinity RODI water, stirring it, pouring it off and making another 5 gallon bucket... have done this 4 times and am still getting dirty rinse.... is there a faster more efficient way to clean this sand prior to putting it in the new tank.
Thanks
Thanks
Ichthys - You have several options: ditch it all and buy new if it's really old and dirty, or keep a couple pounds of it use to seed new sand, or keep a couple pounds and rinse the rest with normal tap water until clear and then do a final rinse or 2 in RO/DI water.
ReefLogic
I am Android
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I always rinse with TAP....to be completely honest there is such a little amount that the sand holds on to that there if virtually no affect. If you are worried pick up a bottle of Prime and add it to your water when you are ready. I just rinsed 200 lbs of sand with TAP....and I have zero concerns when setting up this tank.
Just my opinion....hope that helps.
Just my opinion....hope that helps.
vinny2261
Well-known member
I agree with ReefLogic, fresh water does not hurt anything unless it is soaked for a long period of time. Anything that is lost was probably not that healthy, only the strong survive, what survives will restart and thrive in the freshly rinsed sand. Even the pod population should explode during the cycle process. When you start seeing the pods feed them a bit of crushed up flake food. The more food available the higher population maintained. Which in the end benefits your tank setup for good health and success. Extra food available for fish and corals.
