Washing Sand

Is it better for me to rinse my sand under running tap water to get it much cleaner, and is it ok to?

 

Wash it but use RO/DI.

 

Ok, i want to do it properly so i will buy a few full barrels from the lfs tomorrow, thanks

 

I've always used tap water with no issues. Even if you had 300TDS, you still have 999,700 PPM WATER. The minute amount of residual "contaminants" (which are mostly minerals) will be diluted into oblivion when you put the sand in your tank.

 

I agree with Mr. Bill on this one. No need to spend the extra on RO/DI just to rinse sand in it and dump it down the drain.

 

What kind of sand?

 

May well use tap water then, the sand is tropical marine sand, and it says it contains Algal oolites?

 

Sounds like LIVE sand. You do not want to rinse it at all. You will kill whatever "life" is in it which will only lead to problems.

Kudos to Vinny- I didn't think to ask...

 

Actually, doing some quite research, it is not live sand. All they are saying is that the some % of the sand is from algal oolites instead of crushed coral of stone. So I still think you should rinse the sand in cold tap water.

Here is the description of the sand I found:

This Coral Sand by Tropical Marine Centre is specially graded marine sand that is guaranteed to contain a high percentage of algal oolites.

The algal oolites are highly porous and provide a perfect habitat for de-nitrifying bacteria.

Due to their uniquely porous nature, oolites can house several hundred times more bacteria than crushed shell or calcium based rocks i.e dolomite gravel.

In simple terms, an aquarium will mature very quickly and remain relatively stable.

 

Thanks, i used tap water then flushed with ro, have about a inch and half