Pool filter sand I bought stinks

[Russ]

Hi,
I bought pool filter sand for substrate at a local spa and pool place down in Florida and the sand looks clean and has no odor when it's dry but when I went to clean it it has a strong unpleasent odor after I started to wash it, is that normal or did I get bad sand? Also what is the best method to clean the sand and the best way to add it to a half full aquarium without creating too much of a cloud?

[discuspaul]

Good quality PFS should have no unpleasant odor whatsoever, and is almost dust & grit-free, so requires little or no rinsing. I place mine right into the tank with no rinsing, and have crystal clear water in no time at all.
I would take that sand back & have the folks at that pool supply store have a sniff at it. Must be some problem.
(Or did you by chance use Prime in the water you started to rinse that sand with ? - Prime does have a slight sulphurous odor).

[a volar]

Good quality PFS should have no unpleasant odor whatsoever, and is almost dust & grit-free, so requires little or no rinsing. I place mine right into the tank with no rinsing, and have crystal clear water in no time at all.
I would take that sand back & have the folks at that pool supply store have a sniff at it. Must be some problem.
(Or did you by chance use Prime in the water you started to rinse that sand with ? - Prime does have a slight sulphurous odor).

+1

[jasongman86]

I get mine at ACE Hardware because they keep it in stock year round here in MD. It needs a quick rinse usually, but never smells. Yours might have additives in it or if as the other poster said you dechlorinated the water to clean it. Also if you're using a garden hose in Florida to clean it, are you using reclaimed water? That water isn't sanitary and shouldn't used on aquarium items. The only reason I say this is my brother (lives in Tampa) used it once and it had all sorts of bad side effects.

To clean use a 5 gallon bucket and put about 1-2 gallons of sand in it. Fill with water and empty until water runs clean. Also you can (if your outside water is clean) put a garden hose in the bottom of the bucket and let it run and overflow until the water coming out is clean.

Adding to the tank is tricky if there are fish in it. I would say drain as low as possible without bothering the fish and then add sand to one side. Use something (spoon, spatula, whatever) to spread the sand around and then place a bowl on top of the sand and fill the tank into the bowl as not to disturb the sand. If you drain the tank and take the fish out it makes things a lot easier. Either way PFS is the way to go, you should be happy with the look.

[Russ]

Thank you, I will return it, I saw some pfs at the Home Depot and was thinking of buying it there, the sand there has a mix of 20 and 30 grain size, is that a good size for substrate?

When I clean the sand in the bucket should I agetate the sand while the water is going in?

[discuspaul]

That grade of sand is good density but be sure you're getting true pool filter sand. Some of the big box stores sell what they say is PFS when it is really not - it can be quite dusty and gritty as play sand is.
And yes, you do need to agitate the sand with water running through it while rinsing, until the water runs clear.
But as I mentioned before, if it's good quality PFS it should require little or no rinsing.

[pastry]

Yeah, I took sand from the beach and it didn't stink at all. Now, if I gave it to you used and even cleaned it half way decent... it'd still smell like pluff mud (and for those of you that don't know what pluff mud smells like... trust me... you do... basically a fresh cut lawn that had a piece of fresh dog poop hit by the mower :) )

[Elliots]

I think the brand sold at ACE Hardware is HTH. I used 250 lbs with no problems. I rinsed it a little and dust came off. I put it in a tank and the water was clear in 1-2 days. I put the sand in and let the water clear before adding fish.

[Tazalanche]

After rinsing our PFS (HTH from Ace Hardware), we use a margarine tub container to transfer the sand from the 5 gallon bucket to the nearly full (make sure there is room for the water displacement of the sand without overflowing), established tank.

Scoop the rinsed PFS out of the bucket with the margarine tub
Slowly place the margarine tub bottom down into the tank
Once at the bottom, turn the margarine tub over to get the sand out with as little disturbance as possible.

We did it that way on a 54, a 55 & a 135. You might break the margarine tub while scooping, but better that container break than a nice dish. :D

Good luck!

[Russ]

Thanks again, one last concern, the pfs at the home depot wasn't dusty and the bag said pool filter sand and that it was silica, but I noticed that the sand in the bag was moist not dry does that matter?

[discuspaul]

Are you sure it was moist, or did it just look that way to you ?
PFS should not be moist, or look moist. And how do you know it wasn't dusty ?
Doesn't sound right to me.

[Russ]

The bags are clear and it looked like the bottom half of the sand was moist and one of the bags had a hole in it and sand was leaking out and it wasn't dusty.

[barkmanusd]

I, literally, just finished converting my 75 gallon tank over from gravel to sand. I converted my 65 gallon over a couple weeks. I searched hi and lo and finally saw where Leslie's pool supply had a commercial (on youtube) that specifically talked about their pool sand being used in aquariums. I tried it and both times just dumped it in ..ran about 8 - 10 inches of water over it....drained. I re-did the process just 'cause it was so easy - figured why not.
My first tank I filtered over night and it was crystal clear the next morning. The tank I just finished has the fish back in it already. A little cloudy but should be clear in an hour or two!

Find a Leslie's and by their sand - it works!

[barkmanusd]

Whoops forgot to add - there was no smell at all! I did use fresh water (no prime) to rinse.

[Russ]

The Leslie's by me didn't have silica sand so I went to another local pool store and they had the same sand as the Home Depot but theirs was dry so I bought it, when I washed it there was no ordor so I'm going to add it to the tank in a little while.

[Ryan]

I use the Quikrete brand of sand from Home Depot. They don't call it pool filter sand; I think it's listed as All-Purpose Sand. You don't want anything fine like play sand because it will get stirred up really easily and sucked in by your filters. The Quikrete stuff is pretty dusty -- I always rinse it in a bucket. My water looked hazy for a few days but the filters (and water changes) will pull out the dust. It's not harmful to the fish but it may not look so great for a couple days.

I've never known it to have a particularly strong smell right out of the bag. Once it's been in your tank a while is another story.