Washing sand from one of my reef aquariums

[yvettenbobby]

hey...i bought live sand in the past and it comes with bio magnet...works great...but im trying somthing new bought some play sand didnt wash it put it in the tank extreamly cloudy did almost a 90% water change cleared up a lot but still noticeably cloudy been like that for about a week after water change....any advice......thanks

[bilbobag111]

Just out of curiosity ... Do you prefer deep sand beds or shallow sand beds? and What kind of sand do you prefer?

[tigreslokos]

hey man, I think I didn't wash my sand very well, will a 50 gallon filter clean it up on a 35 gallon tank??

please respond anyone (=

[riderinblack57]

@tigreslokos it will indeed i had the same prob in my tank but now its crystal clear just give it time dont do water changes out of the ordinary maybe a 5% each week till it clears up then return to regular and recomended 10% water changes let the tank do all the work remember too many water changes can give you a bacteria bloom which will cloud your water if that happens let me know i will tell you how to fix that...

[tigreslokos]

@riderinblack57 thanks a lot man (= my water is clear now, it was just a matter of time as you said, but I don't want to do big water changes because it's a new tank so I want the bacteria to settle and have a good mature water (=

thanks a lot man, have a nice day(=

[riderinblack57]

@tigreslokos your very welcome and if you have any future questions dont be afraid to ask me i am more than glad to share my expirience  and wisdom !!!

[tigreslokos]

@riderinblack57 you're probably the nicest guy that has ever replied a comment I've made lol, really thanks man :)

[riderinblack57]

@tigreslokos well i know how it feels to look around online and 100 people tell you not to and 100 tell you to do it its confusing and whishing someone just gave you a straight answer ive been there so i decided to help out where i can so your welcome

[MrDontfeedme]

if you buy white sand that is very bright how do you keep it bright

[damafiafz]

helo there little help would a filter or powerhead suck up the sand and store it in the filter ?????

[vanhalenman60]

before you do it dry it and sift it

[vanhalenman60]

i didnt wash mine for 4 years and a 170 gal it took me 3 hours!!!

[CrunchieDan]

How do you remove the sand from the aquarium if you wanna tear it down or do a total clean out?

[iJonel]

how would I clean this live sand I bought from the pet store? I put the new live sand in the tank, then filled it up with water. It's so cloudy and foggy. It's been running now for 3 weeks. the water is clear now, but when I stir the sand, the fogyness and cloudyness is worst

[Tgill9627]

Hi, might be to late, but never clean livesand. It contains beneficial bacteria. Livesand normally comes with a small package of bio magnet. They through it in with the sand making it extremely hard to find. Anyway, the bio magnet will clear up the cloudyness in hours. If you lost yours they may sell it at your LFS.

[thonytheazn]

would a filter,powerhead, or under water filter suck up the sand and store it in the filter then i have to pour it out??? or does it not

cause im planning to buy sand

[familydred]

i got a black newly bought i put it at my aquarrium once i put water it got very dirty is that good

[AquariumForum]

you dont want it dirty

[inachu]

ehhh better to just buy new sand.

[APoirier594]

Good video, glad I joined the forum, yall answer all my questions, and I like helping others to. Who-ever is watching this, go to the link in the description, its a great site

[inachu]

Rinsing with fresh salt water or are you using tap water?

[AquariumForum]

Thats tap water!

[hahaurgd]

pretty cool man

[raneatyler]

I want to do sand in my freshwater aquarium. Do you think I should still churn the sand every month even though I have a bunch of khuli loaches that dig in the gravel I have now and will probably dig in the sand if I get it? And how long did it take you to clean that much sand? Thank you.

[onlyrob4848]

I have sand in my freshwater aquarium for the last 3 years or more and my fish are very happy and have not lost a fish in about 1 year or more.

[gigaboy74]

I dunno why mines didnt live when i did it but i have gravel now and there livin

[onlyrob4848]

What ever works for you gigaboy do what you have to do 2 keep your fish happy :-)

[gigaboy74]

im geting salt water soon

[onlyrob4848]

it wiil not be easy there is a lot of work needed and money to and most of all TIME.........

[longlostlotrelf]

I have a salt water tank as long as you have proper filtration and the right amount of time. It's not that bad. It's costly though. The bigger the tank the easier it is to care for.

[lucasthompson]

This comment is probably WAY too late but... As far as I know, Kuhli Loaches generally prefer fine/smooth sand to gravel but replacing the substrate in a running tank (FW or SW) is NOT a fun job and can be very stressful/dangerous to your livestock. I'd avoid it unless you've got a few years of success in the hobby.

If your loaches are doing fine right now and the gravel is smooth/fine enough that they aren't irritated by it, I'd leave it alone.

[lucasthompson]

sorry, that was posted as a reply to raneatyler's comment, not sure why it didn't thread properly.

[dreadrock696]

Awesome vid!!!!

[iggy184]

If you have a strong filter, just stir the sand in the aquarium, I do that once or twice a month on my aquapod 24, and water looks clear all the time, it will look murky for about 5-10 min then bam its crystal clear. Please check out my pod.

[AquariumForum]

By the way folks, this certainly kills the beneficial bacteria in the sand... only do this when you really need to clean the sand, this is not a regular maintenance type of thing to do. And you must dechlorinate the last batch of water that you rinse the sand with.

[JOK3RxGOKU]

Hey men you should make more vid like this really enjoyed it =]

[millmanturtle]

Hey do you Have any Pets?

[rosserluke]

TIP = instead of buying expensive aquarium sand form a shop, just buy childrens play sand wich is about £1.50 ($3.00) enough for a 10gallon aquarium

[AquariumForum]

I would advise to not use silica sand in a reef though, use aragonite sand instead.

[mbrandhu]

I´ve in my 540 liters sand from the sahara (from a DIY), it works GREAT and I had never become any problems.

[charzarg]

haha, i didn't even know there WERE different types of sand, i just thought their was fine and rougher sand, and different colours. XD

You learn something new every day XD

[benjiontenors]

This is actually a bad idea. Play sand hascrud in it that is harmful to aquatics.

[rrcoolj354]

that's why you rinse it out

[benjiontenors]

That doesn't get it all out. Plus, as aquarium forum said, it's silica sand. In general, that's not good for fish. Especially when they eat it. And they will eat it.

[rrcoolj354]

I don't know any fish who "eats" sand. I know fish that sift sand but I don't know a fish that eats sand. Plus I know alot of people who use silica sand as a substrate for many years and never had problems. You just have to really rinse it but other than that it's just like regular sand.

[BOOMitsKADY]

fish don't eat the sand but sometimes the food is in the sand and they accidently get some of the sand in their body. This is harmful is them harmful to them.

good dicussion going on though aha.

must admit.

[brodis2]

now can you use sand from the beach???

[imabadspeler]

You could, But you might introduce parrisites. Just be sure to starilize it either by boiling it or bakeing it.