I'm going to be starting a 180 gallon build as soon as I get back from vacation at the end of the month. I'm going to buy 200 pounds of rock from Billy's reef connection and 200 pounds of dry aragonite sand. Could I start soaking it in town tap water? Then when i get closer to using it, soaking in RO/DI water. I have a RO/DI system but I hate to waste that water when I'm going to be changing it often. Thanks in advance.
Curing Sand and Rock
- Thread starter Jixar243
- Start date
Haunt
New member
I'm not really sure why you would want to cure the dry sand, but the rocks can be put in your DT right away. Get your lights, your skimmer, fine tune the plumbing etc and after a couple months or so add the dry sand. Maybe add a few snails here & there in the meantime. Piece of cake.
Valentini89
New member
This^^ but I would use live sand
NanoReefWanabe
Active member
There is no need for live sand... and personally I would add all the sand and rock at once... if you are going to "cook" and seed your rock then start as soon as possible... but still add everything all at once.. I would be using rodi unless your trap water is very clean... the salt is going to cost more then the water anyway...
wildman926
Active member
Do not use tap water. Whatever minerals, metals, etc. in the tap water will be absorbed by the rocks. Just use RO water, and then repurpose that water for your yard, so you don't feel like you are wasting it.
Diana A
Member
With the sand...get a 5 gallon bucket, & place 5 cups of sand inside the bucket. Place a garden hose inside and rinse the sand until the white dust is gone. Remove sand and repeat until you are done.
After the sand is all rinsed, you can rinse the tap water out with RODI but it isn't necessary.
After the sand is all rinsed, you can rinse the tap water out with RODI but it isn't necessary.
I agree with Diana except 5 cups of sand at a time will take a long time to do. I fill a 5 gallon bucket about half full of sand and run water and use my hand to stir the sand until it runs clear. I don't think a rinse with RODI is necessary as long as you pour out all of the water used for rinsing.
For the rocks, you should use RODI.
For the rocks, you should use RODI.
Clowning_Around
New member
I used a 5 gallon painters strainer net from HD to clean my sand, it speed up the process. Instead of lots of hand stirring I mixed in some dunking. Food for thought, i think 2pk of strainers where a couple bucks iirc.
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