Rinsing sand question

When rinsing new sand before adding to tank should i use R/O or is tap ok.
If tap how long should i wait to add sand?Someone said to put sand in a pilliowcase and run water over,or should i dip case in 5 gal bucket?Any other suggestions?

 

If the sand is live def don't rinse it at all but if it's inert (dead) sand I would use RO if you can spare it. If the tank is brand new tap to rinse would be ok for inert sand in buckets and then add RO to fill the tank. I've never used the pillowcase method but I'm sure it works nicely. I had live sand so I didn't do any rinsing and just dumped it in with the tank about 10% full of RO.

good luck,

 

Pillow case is the way to go!!! Your going to use a lot of water tho so u might have to do tap...
If it's alive however, don't wash

 

Its dry and i got an extra 5 gallons of R/O.Need to rinse 45lbs

 

If you only have 5g of RO save it, you can use tap for the rinsing. Is it very fine sand? Aragonite maybe?

 

If it's dry i'd use the pillowcase dunk method you suggested above in the 5 gallons of RO. I'd dunk it a few times, move the sand around in the case with my hands, and dunk it a few more times. It's not like you can't make more RO water, right?

 

I dont rinse anymore, the water clouds either way so I just plan for it to take about 18 hours to settle and clear.

 

i had the same question when i started my tank up. I used tap to rinse and then a final dunk in the RO (perhaps more for peace of mind) then filled the tank with RO. you WILL use a LOT or water rinsing out the sand. I Rinsned mine out over a couple hours and i had almost zero clouding. did it in small batches like 5 pounds each then added it slowly like that. it really seemed to help out IMO. better to take your time so you dont have to stare at a really cloudy tank.