What I did was pour about a third of the bag in a five gallon bucket, fill it up water, stir it around a bit, pour that water out and repeat, probably about three times. I didnt notice anything oily though.
Pre use clean black diamond.. oily water still
SO i got a 50 lb bag of 20/40 black diamond blasting 'sand'. Just spent a back breaking hour trying to rinse about half of it in a bucket outside constant flil, stop, drain quickly to remove floaters/oily surface, repeat.. lost track how many times I did this. Still getting oil and some fine particles floating when I fill and let it sit a minute.
Curious how to get rid of this pesky oily film on the surface coming from the sand? Just more rinsing? Does anyone use soaps or other techniques to thoroughly clean it?
Curious how to get rid of this pesky oily film on the surface coming from the sand? Just more rinsing? Does anyone use soaps or other techniques to thoroughly clean it?
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Lucky you! I did about 1/2 bag, 5 gallon bucket, used high pressure hose to fill/aggitate as it filled and pour out, repeat. Would see film when pouring out for the first half hour or more of cleaning, now only notice film if I let it sit.. but I don't want any film in the tank.What I did was pour about a third of the bag in a five gallon bucket, fill it up water, stir it around a bit, pour that water out and repeat, probably about three times. I didnt notice anything oily though.
Keep on rinsing. It took me about a dozen rinses to get rid of the oil slick. Stir and turnover the sand in the bucket to get as much particulates as possible into the water then pour it out.
I think I spent a good week doing 3-4 rinses a night when I got home from work. It takes a long time. Breaking it down into smaller batches to release the particles will help some.
so i went back and did a bit more rinse+agitate, drain, repeat fun today, finished the first batch and got the list of the 'sand' done too, took about another hour or so.
Odd, I've never had to rinse mine and not had any issues with it and used it is all but 2 of my tanks.
I washed mine what seemed like countless times as well, and I still occasionally get a minor film. Mainly this only happens when I move the sand around when adding plants or root tabs. I just take a shop vac and suck it out so I feel safe feeding the fish.
Mine too I washed it about 20 times and still a film for about a week,changed the filter pad out twice and that got it.
Real film it was, it will go away with time though.
Jeff
Real film it was, it will go away with time though.
Jeff
Hoping to add it to a 20long this weekend, still not sure if I want to try soil capped with this or use root tabs. Will have a dwarf lily and possibly glosso.. leaning towards soil bottom atm. Hope it doesn't make too much of a mess when I add it ^^
I rinsed mine out about 4 cups at a time. It seemed to be a bit easier to have the water come up clear, was actually faster the smaller amount at a time I did. I tried doing half 5 gallon bucket at one time and it just wouldn't ever clear up.
I'd have to agree with going in smaller portions.
I dug my hand through it agitating heavily while the water was filling the container. Keep digging for a little bit, then pour the water off. Repeat this a few times until the water pours off clear.
I dug my hand through it agitating heavily while the water was filling the container. Keep digging for a little bit, then pour the water off. Repeat this a few times until the water pours off clear.
Got a link to one of the tanks? Did you add any nutrients to the substrate?Odd, I've never had to rinse mine and not had any issues with it and used it is all but 2 of my tanks.
We'll my 20g long has been up and running for about two weeks. The thorough pre clean made filling the tank easy and increasingly minimal cloudy-ness which went away quickly, and no oily-ness on the surface from the sand. On water change day I don't get any leftover floating bits from the sand just organics. Planting was so easy I'm never going back to gravel! Now I just need to get my mts population up so I can add some of those snails to the tank to stir the sand for me.
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