Sand Question / Tank start up

[jreeceaspen]

I have some brand new arganite argamax caribsea sand that I'm going to use for my tank. Do you just throw some in a bucket with a small pump and let it swirl around? How do you rinse this before you put it in the tank. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. This is the first time I'm starting a tank from scratch, so any other tips would be cool too. I'm doing a water change on my main tank and thought I would keep that water and mix it with new water (about 35g old and 20g new, plus I'm making another 50g of new this week). I'm hoping close to 100g is going to be good once I add the sand and the rock. Do you just get the water to where is starts to flow over into the return and fill the sump all the way up too? Just wasn't sure how much water I should put in to start. I appreciate any feedback.

Thanks!

 

[herostar]

Here's how I did it:

I had a bucket of dead sand, so I wasn't trying to save the bacteria. I also was setting up a brand new tank from scratch. This method worked very well.

I put all the sand into a tank with fresh water. I ran a HOB filter with floss (synthetic pillow fill is cheap and easy to use) and a powerhead in the tank. First, I would stir it up until the water was thick and nasty then siphon out most of the water. I refilled the tank and repeated a few times.

Next, I would stir the sand multiple times a day (whenever I walked by) to get the fine particulates into the water column. I would either rinse out or throw away the filter floss. After doing this for a few days very little gross particulate was left, so I knew the sand was rinsed well.

My last step was to drain all the water and add sand to the display tank. I then filled the tank and added salt.

 

[jreeceaspen]

I don't have another tank to throw the sand in? When you say HOB filter, can you send me a pic or show me what you mean. I use filters on my main tank right now, so I have a ton of those. I would like to see the HOB filter your describing and how you set it up? I'm wondering if there is another way because I don't have a tank to do this in. Great idea though, I appreciate it.

 

[iceman79]

Hang on the back filters are the ones that come with most aquarium set ups their the basic ones

 

[SAZAMA]

im not following, are you adding a sump? or starting a new setup?

 

[Off The Deep End]

A five gallon bucket will work as a "tank"

HOB filter

http://fhas.co.uk/cube/images/uploads/1SDF-400.www.fhas.co.uk.jpg

 

[The Grim Reefer]

I just throw the stuff in a bucket and run water into it till the water is to the top of the bucket. Stir up the sand good and give it a few seconds to settle then turn the water back on and let the bucket overflow, the crap will mostly be carried out over the top leaving the sand in the bucket. You just have to make sure you don't use enough pressure to stir the sand enough if gets carried out over the top too.

 

[Off The Deep End]

Bingo! Thats exactly what i do.

 

[jreeceaspen]

Great, that's a huge help! Thanks!!!

 

[PotHuntR]

i just throw the stuff in a bucket and run water into it till the water is to the top of the bucket. Stir up the sand good and give it a few seconds to settle then turn the water back on and let the bucket overflow, the crap will mostly be carried out over the top leaving the sand in the bucket. You just have to make sure you don't use enough pressure to stir the sand enough if gets carried out over the top too.

+1

 

[Jerry Gonzales]

Do a quick sift through for screws or other objects. I placed mine right in the tank and added water slowly over a plastice grocery bag. That way I didn't have a huge cloud could do controlled mixes with my hand and netted out stuff.

 

[SAZAMA]

im a idiot.... great build!!!!

 

[Off The Deep End]

LOL its ok everyone has a brain fart once in a while!

 

[jreeceaspen]

No sweat! I have been tinkering with the electrical for the past few days to get it dialed in before I attempt to toss water in there. I want to make sure the electrical all works before I do anything and last night I got it all dialed in (well, except the pumps of course). All I can say is DIGITAL AQUATICS ROCKS!!! That RK2 is bass add hands down. If you consider, don't hesitate pull the trigger. If you even think about, do it. I had to pull out some GCIF receptacles last night and replace them with regular plugs. See, I was smart enough to have a electrician wire a outlet right next to the tank with two dedicated 20A circuit breakers long ago before I brought the tank in. OH and if anyone has thought about the As Seen on TV Magic Sliders, they are a wonder also. I used them on the stand and it slides around nice and easy. The true test is to see if I can move the tank when it's full, as the sliders say they can move up to 3500lbs which I'm skeptical. I will get the sand cleaned out tomorrow night and take some more pics for you. I should have enough water by the weekend to get things going. Well, 100g that is. I think once I place the rock / sand / and fuge stuff in that I'm sure 100g's should be good enough.