FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

implanning on using some sand for my CP substrate besides perlite.but washing it is very tiring.i alreADY wash it 10times but when i add water to the sand,the water is still cloudy....and the TDS of the water mix with sand is around 47PPM(really high).
so is there any way which i can wash my sand faster?
my method is now i put those sand in a 5gallon basin and add water,stir,stir,stir then bring the water out...




Thanks
Harris

47 isn't necessarily '(really high).' I think the general rule is 50 PPM or less. I have heard that some people even use stuff up to 100 PPM with no problems.

maybe...im gonna try it on my Droseras to see the effects..

Hi Harris ,
the way I used to do it was get one 1/4 of a bucket of sand at a time , get the garden hose and put it into the bucket with the sand , run the water faster enough to swish the sand around in the bucket quite vigorously and allow the dirty water to over flow from the bucket , push the hose into the sand as you do this, to get all unwanted dirt and unwanted material out of the sand , hold bucket on a slight angle so the dirty water and other stuff gets out quickly and run till water is reasonable clear , hope this helps ,you can run your TDS when water is reasonable clear to see if desirable level is archived
J

thanks snappy
i just need to find my bucket now hehe...

what john described is how ive done it too, you'll notice all the dirty water and fine particles will wash out the top, leaving only the heavy sand particles.

dont be surprised if you lose quite a bit of sand volume, depending on its quality.
on propagation sands ive lost as much as 30% roughly..

the silica i use now does not need to be washed.

mine is not silica sand.but the sand is safe to use but need to be wash.

follow snappers advice, you cant go wrong.

Just make sure you are not using beach sand. Most beach sand is alkaline from the seashell fragments (Calcium carbonate) in addition to the high salt content.

Brad

maybe a little late, but here is an article about rinsing sand, the way snapperhead51 explained (but with pictures , don't we all love pictures? xD) : http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/cleaning_sand.php