disinfecting sand

[NanoreefChris]

in my 29g i have a very thin layer of white sand. I went to costa rica this summer and brought back some really nice brown sand in a gatorade bottle. I would like to add this to my tank so my question is, How should I disinfect this sand? I was thinking of just adding it to the tank but I dont know if it could cause problems.

 

[qwik]

I am not sure how to disinfect the sand but you definitely have to wash it before adding it . Anything that was alive in the sand is now dead and will negatively affect your water . I think I would just skip on adding it to the tank . Better safe than sorry .

 

[reeferwanabe]

If the sand was up on the beach and not in the water should be able to rinse it and put it in cause it was never alive to begin with.

 

[Mbodell]

When I recycled my used sand, I used a small amount of bleach and then rinsed the sand in a large bucket with a hose at the bottom and then rinsed from bucket to bucket. It does take a lot of time and water to do this, but I have never had any ill consequences from this. The tank that I used it in is also the one that stays the cleanest.

 

[ricwilli]

This might help. http://www.melevsreef.com/rinsing_sand.html

 

[1201139]

i think i heard from somebody putting the sand in water and just boiling it and the heat and bubbles clean the sand of any bacteria and u would just start all over again with clean sand ;D now getting the sand out of the water is another thing. u could either use a coffee filter or something along those lines, or u could just keep changing the water that your boiling till it comes out clean but thats just me trying to come up with something that would possibly work

 

[Mbodell]

I wouldn't mess with boiling, that sounds like a very dangerous idea. Basically I did the same thing as the link ricwilli posted, but I bleached first.

 

[NikkiT]

You could also pasturize it, put it with very little liquid in two layers of disposable tinfoil pans, bake covered at about 250F for about 30 minutes. At the risk of sounding silly, this is what I do with garden soil to start seedlings indoors.

 

[whitebear1020]

I prefer boiling method.

www.lafishguys.com. Check this website. One of the eposidoes about how to bleach decorations.
Whatever method you use, just don't skip it. I brought shells from Belize and put them in my tank without boiling first. I had an outbreak of hair algae.

 

[The_Codfather]

I prefer boiling method.

www.lafishguys.com. Check this website. One of the eposidoes about how to bleach decorations.
Whatever method you use, just don't skip it. I brought shells from Belize and put them in my tank without boiling first. I had an outbreak of hair algae.

Can you tell me what Episode? I can't seem to find it :'(