Best way to rise pool sand

[KittenFishMom]

I bought a 50 lb bag of pool sand for my 55 build. In the meantime,  I want to rise some of it and put it in pint deli containers and put one in each tank for my loaches for their exploration and enjoyment.

I want to know the best way to rise the sand, and find out in I need to poke holes in the deli cups for water to circulate in and out and if I need to fill the cups more than half full.

Any other suggestions or advice is very very welcome.

[Zenzo]

I would think that rinsing them in the deli cups will be best, as it is a small amount of sand, and should rinse clean pretty quickly. I would suggest doing it outdoors to avoid getting any sand in your pipes just in case some spills out. 

[KittenFishMom]

@Zenzo Thanks, Like panning for gold. Sounds good to me.

[nabokovfan87]

I use the "rice method" and it generally works well.  add your desired amount to a bucket or container and then run cold water over it.  Agitate that with your hand, then you would go ahead drain off as much water as you can.  For higher quality sand this might take 3-4 "rinses" and for the cheap stuff / play stand you might be there a little while. 

With sand it's mildly important to agitate it and get those fine particles that aren't desired (and end up in pumps and equipment) into the water column and to dump those out.  It's basically analogous to how sushi chefs prepare rice.
 

 

Edited October 18, 2022 by nabokovfan87

[KittenFishMom]

I bought the boy down the street a gold panning kit a few summers ago. I have buckets. If I can find the gold pan I will try it both ways and report back.

[JettsPapa]

If you bought a good quality pool filter sand it shouldn't need rinsing.  I've used two different brands, both bought at pool supply stores.  One didn't produce any cloudiness when I added water, and the only one only made a little bit.  It was cleared up the next day, so I don't consider that enough to justify going through the trouble of rinsing.

I've seen reports from people who bought theirs at big box home improvement stores who had different results.

[KittenFishMom]

I bought the boy down the street a gold panning kit a few summers ago. I have buckets. If I can find the gold pan I will try it both ways and report back.

@JettsPapaWe bought it at a pool store, so it may not need rising.

[TOtrees]

I like the sushi rice analogy. 🙂

I use a 5 gallon bucket to rinse sand or gravel. Fill it with sand to a level that will allow running water from hose or tap to churn and turn over the sand all the way to the bottom. So maybe 4-6" at a time? I don't do a lot of manual agitation, and I let the water do the work. Add water (I prefer hose end bc it can be moved around more than tap), then tip the bucket part way (before it gets too heavy with water) to pour off water without pouring off sand. And repeat until you start to see the sort of clarity you're looking for. As others have said, if the PFS is fairly clean, you'll be there quickly. If it's full of fine dust (like play sand would be), you could be repeating quite a bit. 

[Patrick_G]

On 10/17/2022 at 11:34 AM, Zenzo said:

I would suggest doing it outdoors to avoid getting any sand in your pipes just in case some spills out. 

Yes, a sandy p-trap is pia!

[Patrick_G]

I put my 50lb bags of sand in a clean plastic trash can. I then used the hose to rinse it. Mine was definitely cloudy but it didn’t take much time to rinse, and I had plenty of leftover for other projects. It’s nice to have some clean sand when you need it. 
Pea gravel takes much longer to rinse.