How do you wash sand? PLEASE ANSWER!!!?

Question

Iv got a 30 gallon tank and I'm going to use sand as a substrate, but the problem is how do I wash the sand before I put it in the Aquarium...

I know you have to wash gravel so you get all the dust out but how do you do that with sand?

PLEASE HELP!!!

Thanks!

Answer 1

I put all my sand into a wash bucket and get the hose wash it super good and put it back in the tank.

Answer 2

Along with the water, use standard size sieves. The washing process will remove the clay and silt and leave the sand. Sieves come in many sizes and can be stacked so one ends up with various groups grain sizes from gravel, sand, silt to clay. Sieving trays are stacked from coarser on top to finer on the bottom.

Answer 3

The way I've washed my sand is to use an old but clean pillowcase, put the sand in, put a hose in one end and run water through it until the water runs clear. Best way to do it without getting sand everywhere!

Answer 4

An old clean pillow case and a friend to help works best IMO :)

This way you just run water through the pillow case and you can mush it together to stir it. You can easily see when the water is running out clear and clean.

Answer 5

Get out your biggest soup pot and boil the sand..You'll kill everything.. :-)

Answer 6

I've only ever washed gravel but I would think the process is pretty much the same, put the sand in a clean bucket with plenty of water and keep swishing it about and emptying the water out and repeating the process with clean water until no more bits come out and the water in the bucket is clear.

***** Just reading the post above, I am presuming you are talking about shop bought sand. I would perhaps boil the sand if you are collecting it from a beach *****

Answer 7

I have sand as the substrate in all my tanks. The easiest thing to do is to dump in in a 5 gallon bucket and just let the hose run for an hour or so. The lighter particles will be washed away and you will be left with relatively clean sand. Every 15-20 minutes, it helps immensely to stir up the bucket of sand to be sure that there isn't dust trapped under heavier particles.

Happy fish keeping!