Added sand, should have rinsed it

[mvallee]

Caribsea live sand "no rinsing necessary" REALLY???

This was half a bag added to my 94 gallon DT to give my wrasses a little more sand depth, ugh! I put it in a bucket with SW and swished and scooped sand out draining water out before I poured in.

 

[this is me]

 

[dilligaf29]

should have been small black packet inside with liquid to make it settle fast

 

[this is me]

should have been small black packet inside with liquid to make it settle fast

That is the wet live sand with the bateria starter packet. He’s using the dry sand which is very dusty. I’ve used it before at 43$ for a 40lbs bag. Had to rinse at least 5 times to get it decent. From now on, I will only use the live wet sand that is 22$ a 20lbs bag. Really not saving anything and spend a lot more time on the dry sand.

 

[PSU4ME]

I used the wet sand and still rinsed it. Not worth it dusting up every time you move it in the future.

 

[mvallee]

this was the live wet sand from petco and it came with a packet that you mixed with Salt water and poured in to clarify, 5 hours later and I can say it is clearing up but can still not see all the way to the back wall but lights are dimming so we'll see what it looks like tomorrow

 

[PSU4ME]

I rinsed mine through a pillow case but didn’t add the packet, cleared the next day. Hate putting unknown packets in the tank but I’m sure it’s fine to do so

 

[this is me]

So if you buy the live stuff and rinse it, does it take away the purpose of buying live? Sure, most of the bacteria is on the surface of the sand, but if you rinse it with new mix water(that's a lot of wasted newly mixed water) or with RODI, wouldn't that kill the bacterias? I supposed if you're adding to your existing tank, you can use the water from water change to rinse it.

 

[afboundguy]

Happens every time I've added live sand goes away by the end of the day. I used to use carbon and mechanical floss to help clear it up faster but I don't have either of those options anymore...

 

[mvallee]

water is clear today and tank looks a lot brighter with all that bright white sand.
I have to move some around for more even coverage as I could not see where I was putting it once the water got all cloudy, hoping it does not cause the same amount of cloudiness.
Next time I will try to rinse it with water change water or just get dry and rinse like I normally do. I doubt being live means much to an established tank, how long can it really stay live in a bag like that. I was really just hoping to avoid rinsing.

 

[PSU4ME]

There is a guy, brandon429 or something like that, who swears by rinsing and that you’re not killing it. After reading his stiff for a few days I was like F it, I’ll rinse.

But adding to an established tank, absolutely rinse, just RO water I’d assume

 

[Dallasstarr]

Whenever I've added sand I use the plastic vac/siphon tube . Pop the hose end off , stick the tube in the sand bed and add sand with small blue Solo cup . You can move the tube gently to distribute sand where needed . Very little clouding .