Bad sand after storing for move...

[Evi1Monkey]

So I recently moved up to Guthrie from Owasso. I took down my 55 and setup a 25 and my fiancee's mother's until for a month or two while we looked for a place to move up here. I bought new sand for the 25, and stored the sand in the 55, about 1 1/2 in worth. The sand filled a 5 gal bucket about 60-70% of the way.

Before storing it, I had a good hour's worth of rinsing it out, but didn't have time to dry it. I haven't been able to setup the 55 because of lack of funds to get water and everthting setup at the new house, or xfer my tank from claremore up here. Yesterday, I realized, "holy crap, I didn't dry the sand before storing it, and it's been sitting there for almost 2 months" I brought the bucket outside to be safe, and sure enough, it smells something aweful. None of it is blackened, but it is mostly dark brown.

Is their any way to salvage the sand? Or do I have to buy new sand? I don't mind having to start with fresh "dead" sand because I will xfer all the sand from the 25 into the 55 when I move it up here, but I really don't have the funds to buy new sand for the next few months

 

[JR719]

Don't know why you couldn't give it a good ro /di rinse and use it. Hope someone with a good knowledge of substrate chimes in.

 

[eddybabyhd]

Just dry it out completely...I would rinse it really well, and pour it on a tarp or plastic sheet and dry it out. I have used sand after drying it out.

It should be fine, I cant see enough organics making it through that process to matter. Ideally this would be done in summer. You might want to wait until we have some days ahead where we arent expecting snow

Good luck

 

[JCR's Reef]

Give it another good rinse and put it in your tank, make up some saltwater water and leave it run without anything else in it to start the cycling process early.

 

[cjilge]

I did the same thing last year and my new 150 is just fine. just rince it really well!

 

[Evi1Monkey]

Should I rinse it with RO or just tap water? I've noticed the water here in guthrie smells really fishy/ like lake water :/ Don't know if i'd want it touching my fish eqipment for any reason....

On that subject though of water, anyone have a cheap, possibly party broken old brute trashcan I could have / buy for cheap? Haven't started working yet and don't have money to buy my fish water yet

 

[gimmic]

Since it is only a 5 gallon bucket's worth, I would rinse it with RODI water a few times then add it to the tank. If you're worried, rinse it then put it into another container with saltwater to cycle it for a bit.

You really should invest in an RODI unit. They've come down quite a bit in price and you can potentially get a return on your investment within a year. You can also use the RO water for drinking water to remove the smell. I don't know about guthrie's supply of water but you might make sure you find one with filters to remove cloramine.

 

[Evi1Monkey]

I know I need to buy one, once I get out of this dept from moving, I'm deffinately getting one, I just don't have the money right now :/