# Black Diamond Sand does it need to be washed?



## D3monic (Jan 29, 2012)

Put about 2 gallons of sand in a bucket, rinse the hell out of it with a hose, dump the dirty water out and repeat until water is reasonably clean. Repeat until desired amount of sand is obtained.


----------



## Jim_PA (Aug 26, 2011)

D3monic said:


> Put about 2 gallons of sand in a bucket, rinse the hell out of it with a hose, dump the dirty water out and repeat until water is reasonably clean. Repeat until desired amount of sand is obtained.


 
Thanks for the info. Should have given more detail. I am moving from my 90 to 125. Wondering if any benefit moving to sand compared to eco-complete, figure if it is, then now is the time to switch since I have the tank torn down.


Thanks


----------



## Sixbolt (Nov 6, 2011)

Ive done two tanks with black diamond. Did not wash it and didnt have any problems


----------



## Jim_PA (Aug 26, 2011)

Sixbolt said:


> Ive done two tanks with black diamond. Did not wash it and didnt have any problems


 
Thanks for the info, that good to know. I have 100 lbs already, I need to go pickup a few more bags, as it says I should have around 225 lbs, the tool that tells me how much to use.


----------



## NWA-Planted (Aug 27, 2011)

225 pounds are you sure? I usually go by the pound per gallon, I have around a 2-3 inch substrate and I am pretty sure I used right under 3 bags

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk


----------



## frrok (May 22, 2011)

I needed to rinse mine thoroughly. It was very oily. It was black beauty blasting sand with the horse on the bag.


----------



## HypnoticAquatic (Feb 17, 2010)

id say 225 sounds about right, i used a 100lb on a 40b and 20L having the back have a decent slope just looks better to me. call around i got the 100lb'ers for 11/13 bucks. i used the 20/40 but would like to try the smaller size to compair but ive seen a much much more healthy root system than my florite,ec,playsand. washing seems to vary with each brand mine didnt need was already prewashed. 

if you do have/want to wash it use a 5gal bucket fill 1/3 with sand rinse put in tank bout as simple as that having less in it keeps it from spilling out when the waters churning.


----------



## D3monic (Jan 29, 2012)

I think black diamond is already prewashed where black beauty is not. I used black beauty and it had a lot of dush in it. True I grabbed my bags close to the bottom of the pallet so it may of been a factor.


----------



## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

I just set up a 65 gallon tank with Black Diamond and didn't wash it first. That was 10 days ago - no problems related to the Black Diamond yet. My water is still hazy, but that is from the topsoil under the Black Diamond, and the way I am filtering the water.


----------



## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

This is filling up mine not rinsing.... 










I highly recommend rinsing.


----------



## HypnoticAquatic (Feb 17, 2010)

what brand was that though.. did it say prewashed? bd doesnt need to be bb does thats what all info showing so far


----------



## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

Black Diamond. From Tractor Supply. NOt the first time I've done this with it either...

The problem people completely miss is that from location to location and batch to batch, there is no guarantee with blasting sand.... washing takes an hour at most, so it is silly not to. 

there version of "washed" and mine are two different things, apparently. It also says "recycled" product on the bag, too.


----------



## Mxx (Dec 29, 2010)

Isn't a 5 inch deep substrate considered a bit much? What I usually see recommended is 1 inch of soil and a 1 inch cap. With a 3 inch cap would most plants manage to even reach the soil layer with their roots?

I suppose a deep sand bed might have some denitrification advantages, but there may be potentially anoxic disadvantages as well. I'm not sure myself, but a balanced substrate depth was something I was wondering about.


----------



## Jacob928 (Jan 29, 2012)

I pre-washed my black diamond sand and would recommend you do the same. I didn't use nearly as much sand as you are going to be using, but I just put the sand in a large bucket and rinse it with the hose a few times until the water was clear. Even after doing this and putting it in the tank, it was still a little "dusty" in the water so i had to do some water changes. But now it looks crystal clear. It doesn't hurt to pre-wash gravel (in most cases), just depends on how much work you are willing to do. Good luck!


----------



## Jim_PA (Aug 26, 2011)

Jacob928 said:


> I pre-washed my black diamond sand and would recommend you do the same. I didn't use nearly as much sand as you are going to be using, but I just put the sand in a large bucket and rinse it with the hose a few times until the water was clear. Even after doing this and putting it in the tank, it was still a little "dusty" in the water so i had to do some water changes. But now it looks crystal clear. It doesn't hurt to pre-wash gravel (in most cases), just depends on how much work you are willing to do. Good luck!


 
I rinsed mine as well this morning, it took a while, but I hope in the long run it will be worth the time. With adding 2 inch soil, I only needed 3 bags of black diamond. It looks really nice, much better than my old gravel, which was eco-complete.


----------



## aa79606 (Sep 22, 2010)

I have used black diamond in a 1 gallon and a 10 gallon tank so far, and I didn't pre-rinse for either one. No problems with haziness, the water cleared up within an hour or two of filling up the tanks.


----------



## Bensr20det (Jul 27, 2011)

I just put 100lbs of black diamond in a 55 gallon tank. I just cut off the tops of both bags and poured them both into the tank that was already full of water. I didn't pour it slow either, maybe 5 seconds per bag. There was a little debris floating that I just scooped out with a net. Then I did a 50% water change. The next day the water was clear again.


----------



## m00se (Jan 8, 2011)

Put me down as Non-Rinsed Black Diamond. 100lbs in 40b. Grey water like Overstocked. Cleared up in 2 hours. All is fine.


----------



## Daximus (Oct 19, 2011)

m00se said:


> Put me down as Non-Rinsed Black Diamond. 100lbs in 40b. Grey water like Overstocked. Cleared up in 2 hours. All is fine.


Ditto, didn't even take mine an hour to clear up. 125lbs in a 90 gallon on top of dirt.


----------

