Rinsing Sand or anything

[DJBoy98]

Do you guys use tap water to rinse your sand or RO/DI water?

 

How about other things such as those Pepsi barrels, etc?

[Brian Ward]

Do you guys use tap water to rinse your sand or RO/DI water?

 

How about other things such as those Pepsi barrels, etc?

 

I use tap water to rinse things, but do my best to dry it and introduce as little tap water as possible to my system.

[YBeNormal]

Tap water.

[Coral Hind]

I just use tap water.

[DJBoy98]

Will running carbon and a skimmer help take out the rest of the chemicals present in

tap?

 

I need to rinse sand for my new tank and was wondering.

[zygote2k]

New tank? Just dump it all in. Cloudy for few days, but you'll have much more dissolved aragonite in the water. I've done this for years and other than the cloudy water, there are no problems.

[Jon Lazar]

I always rinse new sand outside in a 5gal bucket with a garden hose, and I don't do anything to treat the little bit of water that makes it back into the tank with the sand.

 

Jon

[FishWife]

I always rinse new sand outside in a 5gal bucket with a garden hose, and I don't do anything to treat the little bit of water that makes it back into the tank with the sand.

 

Jon

 

 

Ditto. Four tank start-ups with this approach, plus sumps. No problems.

[lancer99]

New tank? Just dump it all in. Cloudy for few days, but you'll have much more dissolved aragonite in the water. I've done this for years and other than the cloudy water, there are no problems.

 

Aragonite doesn't dissolve at the pH range typically encountered in reef tanks.

 

-R

[DJBoy98]

New tank? Just dump it all in. Cloudy for few days, but you'll have much more dissolved aragonite in the water. I've done this for years and other than the cloudy water, there are no problems.

 

I tried that in my past tanks and it took days to get the cloud out with tons of skimming.

 

I was trying to reduce that and it looks like using tap will be ok.

 

BTW, I'm using High Desert playsand by paverstone found at HD. I have seen people say it's ok

even with the whole slica debate thing. It's a much cheaper alternative and plus I'm only using it for

the looks and not as a DSB.

[zygote2k]

Aragonite doesn't dissolve at the pH range typically encountered in reef tanks.

 

-R

If this is true, then why does Aragamax slowly diminish over time?

[lancer99]

If this is true, then why does Aragamax slowly diminish over time?

I don't know...possibly compaction or processing by the infauna?

 

Here is an article that explains why adding particulate CaCO3 to saltwater doesn't increase the Ca, although not from the pH point of view: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/july2002/chem.htm

 

-R

[zygote2k]

"The Southdown sand, however, does contain a fair amount of fine particles, and if one simply ignores the larger particles and uses enough sand, the water can be saturated with calcium carbonate almost as fast as when using AragaMIGHT."

 

Direct quote from the aforementioned article. Sounds like what I initially presumed was in fact true.

I only use Aragamax and have just added 30# right into the sump of my existing reef. I experienced no adverse affects other than cloudy water for a day and a half. If anything, the corals reacted positively to the addition.

Edited October 9, 2008 by zygote2k

[lancer99]

"The Southdown sand, however, does contain a fair amount of fine particles, and if one simply ignores the larger particles and uses enough sand, the water can be saturated with calcium carbonate almost as fast as when using AragaMIGHT."

 

Direct quote from the aforementioned article. Sounds like what I initially presumed was in fact true.

I only use Aragamax and have just added 30# right into the sump of my existing reef. I experienced no adverse affects other than cloudy water for a day and a half. If anything, the corals reacted positively to the addition.

Zygote, the quote from that article clearly applies to freshwater and not saltwater.

 

I am also a huge Aragamax fan. All three of my tanks have 4-8" DSB of Aragamax.

 

But based on what I've read, and my experience, I don't think they contribute in any significant way to Ca levels.

 

-R