Sandbed: To Bother Or Not To Bother That Is The Question

[Tolboy]

I have some sand, about 80lbs. from a previous tank . I stored it in a rubbermaid container after after I sold the tank.I was thinking about adding about 2 more inches to the bottom of my 26g.The only thing is theres been some sweating going on in the container and I'm worried about what growing in the sand besides the stuff I need.Another thing is what could be the result of me disturbing my sand bed . The last time I added LR it was about six lbs. and my water never spiked, so I do have good bio filteration.Advise me please...............

 

[d4a2n0k]

If it wasnt sitting with circulating water then ditch it. Not worth the risk for a $5 bag of sand.

 

[Tolboy]

Could I boil it in a big stock pot or something like that just to kill off everything what type of effect could I get from that.

 

[Scuba Oz]

Umm, what d4a2n0k said. Not worth the trouble of boiling it ( I hope that was a joke). Just go buy more sand for a few bucks and a whole lot of peace of mind.

 

[Tolboy]

No that was not a joke sorry.Can someone politely tell me if boiling sand could damage the chemistry or integrity of it.Thank You.

 

[75Gallons]

The boiling would actually work to kill any bacteria. You would have to rinse it and make sure it was clean. All of that would be a lot of trouble to go through for some sand though. I think that was the point the others were trying to make I hope you weren't offended.

 

[JimW]

Not to mention accumulated phosphate and possible other contaminates leaching out.