“Reviving” old media

[Swedgin]

I have a ton of filter media like pumice, siporax, etc, which came out of unused or retired filters a while ago. I never cleaned it and has been sitting in storage for months.

I was thinking of rinsing, then boiling the media, rinse again, let dry and soak in solution with prime before reusing.

Sound ok? Any other ideas? I’d like to skip the letting it dry part to save time.

Thanks

[Swedgin]

122437

[Filip]

I would soak it for an hour in a strong bleach or PP solution , (Muratic acid is an option too, if it's not reacting with the media it self, do the test first if you choose this option ) .
Just a quick rinse in a bucket will do the trick for PP And Muratic, and for bleach you need to soak it afterwards in a strong dechlor solution (I.e. put Safe dose for 200 Gallon tank in 5 gallon bucket )to be sure it's completely dechlorinized.

You don't have to dry out in any of the above mentioned scenarios .

[brewmaster15]

I have a ton of filter media like pumice, siporax, etc, which came out of unused or retired filters a while ago. I never cleaned it and has been sitting in storage for months.

I was thinking of rinsing, then boiling the media, rinse again, let dry and soak in solution with prime before reusing.

Sound ok? Any other ideas? I’d like to skip the letting it dry part to save time.

Thanks

Tobi,
If the tank was a healthy tank at the time of the media removal, Odds are there nothing to worry about,.. soak it in bucket and and rinse well and you are good to go, IMo. Boiling may help loosen up debris but unless you had a disease condition you really don't need to worry. Few parasites would survive this long if there were any, and as for bacteria... if you didn't have an issue before , you need not worry now...


Of course if you have any concerns on the health of the tank before media was removed, Bleach soaking and rinse or thorough boiling is a good idea.


hth,
al

[Swedgin]

Thanks guys. Soaked in pp to be safe. There were no issues with the tanks they came off, I was just worried something might have developed in storage.

[bluelagoon]

If you didn't have plastic mixed in and have a self clean oven;that will burn out any organic stuff and turn it to ashes/dust.