Different Setup Method for Sand

**ZeeZ** · 22nd Apr 2012, 05:52

I thought I'd share how I set up new tanks with sand. I don't do the usual method of stirring new sand. What I do is I fill the tank with dechlorinated water, find a bottle that will fit the height of the aquarium, rinse the bottle out thoroughly. Then make a funnel or purchase a funnel, adding sand to the bottle.

Put the sand underwater, waiting until very little or no bubbles comes out of the bottle. Gently squeeze the bottle a few times to make sure the bubbles are gone. Turn the bottle upside-down and spread the sand around the base of the tank.

Once all of the sand is gone, quickly take the bottle out. What would have normally been stirred out from the usual method is still left inside the bottle. This is the very fine particles. Empty the bottle. Repeat again if you need more sand. You're good to go.

**Marlinsons** · 22nd Apr 2012, 08:51

Wow, never heard anyone doing this before. Does the tank mature faster?

**ZeeZ** · 22nd Apr 2012, 10:15

No, you normally have to wash sand before you can set up a new tank. If you do it this way, you don't have to wash it.

**bossteck** · 22nd Apr 2012, 10:56

The effects of this method is more dramatic in this vid

**ZeeZ** · 22nd Apr 2012, 11:04

That's it! I didn't know what to search for to find it again so I made my own. Thanks for finding it!

**limz_777** · 22nd Apr 2012, 20:30

seen this method before , think its still better to rinse new sand , sometimes you can find funny stuff floating around when cleaning new substrate

**BFG** · 22nd Apr 2012, 21:50

This has to be one of the better way to save water for rinsing sand. Has anyone tried this method with fine sand? Might be time consuming for large tank but can be offset by using more bottles though. Hope someone wont use this method with Aquasoil.....

**stormhawk** · 22nd Apr 2012, 21:54

Rohaizal, I tried with fine sand, a little difficult. The diameter of the bottle's outlet must be small for fine sand to work. This one ought to work with lapis gravel and slightly bigger.

**gamziazui** · 22nd Apr 2012, 23:55

Learnt something new today, Thanks Zeez for sharing.

**ZeeZ** · 27th Apr 2012, 13:44

Originally Posted by BFG

This has to be one of the better way to save water for rinsing sand. Has anyone tried this method with fine sand? Might be time consuming for large tank but can be offset by using more bottles though. Hope someone wont use this method with Aquasoil.....

I'm not too sure about fine sand, but the black sand I used is pretty fine and I had issues with it forming into little black balls filled with air. Eventually, though, they're going away. There's not as much now as there was before, with the Blue Pearl Shrimp moving around and picking at everything in the tank.

However, for my 40 gallon, I have sand that was a bit more coarser than the black sand in this video, and I used 2 Liter bottles for the 40 Gallon. Had zero issues with that, no air bubbles or anything. There will be a little bit of sand floating around at the water surface, but I just pat the water and that sends the sand floating back down to the bottom.

**framejumb0** · 3rd May 2012, 12:05

This is a new thing to learn which is very handy. But if your tank has a canister filter and you are using fine sand make sure to wash them thoroughly and remove suspending sand particles completely. And use a prefilter sponge around inlet. One particle in to impeller chamber will reduce the impeller life span greatly. IT has low chance to come through media and settle mostly in bottom of canister. But it is a possible factor to reach impeller chamber.