washing of sand for the tank?

[terryansimon]

how on earth am I going to wash 12 bags worth of sand?! my house doesn't have the luxury of a huge pail/bucket, and the distance from toilet to tank is too far for me to carry the sand to and fro from. is there anyway I can wash it within the tank itself? maybe AT can advice as I do recall him doing it for his new tank.

also another thing, what kind of filter media do I put at the sump? as my sump will be designed with a tower design from the water input side. any ideas?

thanks! (=

[Achilles Tang]

Yes, if it is an empty new tank... wash it in the tank itself. Just get a pump in there and a basket with filter floss to strain out floating debris. Just don't get sand sucked into the pump and basket.

[terryansimon]

basket with filter floss? sorry but do you have an illustration on it or something? I'm very bad at visualising such stuff. =\

do you have the whole illustration on pictures? your previous thread that one...quite hazy leh. didn't really see what you did. =\

[Achilles Tang]

Get a coriander basket. Put filter floss in there. Output from your pump placed inside your tank (above sandbed, preferably on a rock or plastic stool) inside this basket to capture floating debris.

Sorry, no pix!

[terryansimon]

ah. urh. okay. quite vague but let me go chew on it. will get back to you if I need somemore help.

thanks for the advice. (=

[Achilles Tang]

This is the only pix I have. Just envision this filter wool in a coriander basket and my pump outlet going into it.

This is what you'll catch at the end of the sandcleaning session.

If you really can't visualize this.... I suggest you watch more Looney Tunes cartoon for inspiration, they are extremely innovative in creating things to whack each other... especially that Coyote who hates the Roadrunner!

Joking!

[huskiesg]

Cotton wool, polyfilter, rowaphos and carbon (from top to bottom) Think this is my arrangement.

also another thing, what kind of filter media do I put at the sump? as my sump will be designed with a tower design from the water input side. any ideas?

[roidan]

i washed 15 bags...each bag at a time...about 5-6 times rinsing for each bag....after washing each bag in a small toyogo tub...then empty it into a big toyogo tub before washing the next bag again....

tiring of course....but...i dun wanna take chances with my sand..hehe

[Achilles Tang]

I didn't want to do the bucket method coz of the effort and time wasted. Just opened the sand bags and poured it all out into my tank.

Water in and then I did so much stirring that my hands really got exfoliated well!

Just use the pump and hose to pump in clean water and pump out dirty water. Repeat until debris is removed (via filter wool basket) and water is clean.

[Joe_P]

how on earth am I going to wash 12 bags worth of sand?! my house doesn't have the luxury of a huge pail/bucket, and the distance from toilet to tank is too far for me to carry the sand to and fro from. is there anyway I can wash it within the tank itself? maybe AT can advice as I do recall him doing it for his new tank.

also another thing, what kind of filter media do I put at the sump? as my sump will be designed with a tower design from the water input side. any ideas?

thanks! (=

Hi Terry,

but...

Before you dump those sand in.....

Are you doing a rock rack first???

Putting a rock rack after the sand is in is not a good idea....

[terryansimon]

Joe...

nah with the amount of rocks I'm getting from your I'd doubt a rock rack is necessary.

[Joe_P]

Joe...

nah with the amount of rocks I'm getting from your I'd doubt a rock rack is necessary.

I recommend a rock rack.... the advantages they give are plentiful compared to jus stcking them onto the sand bed....

and you get to buy less liverocks... save cash cos you will need alot once your reef is cycled....

[terryansimon]

I think I'll just stack the rocks. call me lazybones...but I don't fancy myself doing a rock rack up. =\

besides like I said, with me buying that amount of rocks from you, I wonder how on earth am I going to stack my rocks if I'm getting a rock rack. =\

[Joe_P]

I think I'll just stack the rocks. call me lazybones...but I don't fancy myself doing a rock rack up. =\

besides like I said, with me buying that amount of rocks from you, I wonder how on earth am I going to stack my rocks if I'm getting a rock rack. =\

Do consider ...... I still think rock racks are the way to go....

Buy less liverocks then....

cos there are other reefers who wants them.....

Racks are easy to do.......

And the benefits with racks are plenty......

[terryansimon]

yeah as in I can stack it to any way I want. I'll consider it but I'm still getting the whole lot of live rocks from you. (=

as for racks being easy to do. I agree. if you have the patience. which I don't. =\

anyways my tank will have a centre overflow tower. so hmm. I can't imagine how to do the rack for it. =\

anyways, your rocks, majority of them are big slabs right?

[Joe_P]

yeah as in I can stack it to any way I want. I'll consider it but I'm still getting the whole lot of live rocks from you. (=

as for racks being easy to do. I agree. if you have the patience. which I don't. =\

anyways my tank will have a centre overflow tower. so hmm. I can't imagine how to do the rack for it. =\

anyways, your rocks, majority of them are big slabs right?

Not all..... some....

And I have to figure out how to weight them..... I should have more than 100 kg currently...

[terryansimon]

use your normal weighing scale.

carry some rocks and then weigh yourself. then weigh yourself again. the difference should be the weight of the rocks in hand.

tedious, but thats the only way I can think of. either that or you can chose to weigh it direct.