Cleaning sand?

[FrankiePinchinatti]

I bought a new bag of play sand for my h. spadix but this sand has so much fine dust in it. I was thinking of maybe trying to separate the larger particles from the dust using an old t-shirt or something, but I don't know if that's the best option. Was also thinking of trying to rinse it with water and hope the dust washes away while the larger particles settle out, not sure if that would work.

Anyone have any experience with this? Or am I just overthinking it and I should leave it all dusty? It seems like the dust really coats him and covers up that nice back/leg contrast.

 

[darkness975]

You can use a cooking sifter and sift out the finer dust particles.

 

[woodie]

Depends how clean you want it. when cleaning sand for carnivorous plants I can get all the dust out by putting batches in a bucket then add water and agitate. Dumping the cloudy water out till runs fairly clear. After when dumping this sand produces no dust

 

[Feral]

As for it it's actually needed for scorps, I can't say because I don't keep them. Washing isn't going to hurt though, as long as it is properly dried.

As for the how to do it part...

I use sand wet, so I've never tried @darkness975's method. It sounds good, though.

Yep, I've used similar methods to @woodie's for sand going into aquariums. It works.
I've used the aforementioned bucket method where you run water in it then agitate it until the overflow/runoff is clear. You can lose a lot of volume that way though, be aware, especially if you're working with fine sand. But for coarse sand I think it's the perfect method for me.

For fine sand, or to conserve as much of it as possible, I've put the sand into a pillow case (a cheap $1 100% polyester pillow case from the dollar store works well, as long as the weave of the fabric isn't too tight or too open... hold it up to the light to check. But the cheap stuff is usually right, ime.) Then run water into the pillow case and agitate until the runoff is clear.

I actually used play sand, same as you have, for one reincarnation of my 55g aquarium and a couple other smaller tanks. I really loved it in the end, but it was really super extra dusty and dirty in the beginning. Way dustier and dirtier than the various sands sold specifically for animals. So what I saved in money, I spent in the effort it took to clean it. Took forever to wash thorough enough for an aquarium, and also enough volume for that size aquarium. But the effort was worth it, looked great and ridiculously cheap!

 

[darkness975]

@Feral It won't let me view your profile, I tried to follow you.

@FrankiePinchinatti How did you make out with the sand? Did you sift out the finer / dusty particles?

 

[Feral]

@Feral It won't let me view your profile, I tried to follow you.

That's weird. On my end, I don't see any reason why you couldn't view my profile, and I see you as already following me. I don't know... Maybe post a thread in the support/help forum? I'll try sending you a pm.

 

[FrankiePinchinatti]

No I haven't gotten around to it yet. I am building a whole new cabinet to put all of my pets, I'll need to sand for when it's done and I'm ready to rehouse it. Too many projects... not enough time/motivation, I'm sure people can relate.

 

[Blackwind]

Anytime I've used playsand . I've always added some to a plastic container then ran water in it till it overflows. As it's overflowing, agitated it so as to allow the smaller, lighter particles to wash off with the overflow.