Mr. Saltwater Tank

Mr. Saltwater Tank Friday AM Quick Tip: Rinse Your Sand Without Joining The Polar Bear Club


I’m a dry sand fan and a winter hater. If you’re building a new saltwater tank, the sand has to get clean and here’s how to do it without suffering.

Links in this video: www.mrsaltwatertank.com/site/bucketstrainer

Browse the Store! Questions?

Comments for this article (16)

  • Mark H. says:

    Good tip Mark, I really love my utility sink in my “Fish Cave”. 🙂

  • Helen says:

    Yet another reason I moved to Florida…from Alberta.

  • Robert KLII says:

    This is why I live in Phoenix, the cold should be enjoyed on a Christmas card

  • I used to live in Phoenix as well Robert and I agree. The best way to experience snow is in a picture!

  • Helen…O CANADA!!!

  • Simon K. says:

    Hi Mark,
    Where can we go to find a strainer such as this? This would be a real saver especially up here in Alberta, Canada.

  • Simon K. says:

    Oops! Just noticed the link above the video for the bucket strainer. My apologies for jumping the gun.

    Simon K.

  • Larry Halliday says:

    Which size would you suggest? I can see the advantage of having a couple of different sizes. I hate cleaning sand even when it is warm outside.

  • Jason says:

    You can find these strainers on Amazon. Just type in the description as five gallon bucket strainer. They are not that expensive.

  • John M says:

    They come in different sizes of screen.

  • John M says:

    Larry Halliday I got 200 micron

  • I wish that I still had the option to do this without snow! I’m about to add 10-20 lbs of sand to my tank that need to be rinsed in my spare bathroom with this technique.

  • John says:

    Bucket strainers are available in 75, 100, 200, 400 and 600 Micron. What size filter is recommended for filtering sand?

  • Darren says:

    thats something that could have multiple uses. first thing that came to mind was capturing copepods after water changes.

  • Larry Halliday says:

    Maybe I will buy a couple of different sizes to see what works best for the type of sand I use. I have a set of small strainers that I use for copepods that I can use to figure the size I need I guess.

  • John M says:

    John
    As to what size to use! You have to look at what size sand you are using for your tank. I have 600 micron for 1-2 mm sand that let the good part of the fine silt waste filter out the bottom. You use sugar 00 sand I use 300 micron.
    I did as Larry said buy different sizes then you have it for different project you working on.

    I forgot to tell Mark these are good when you change the media in your GFO and Carbon reactors. When you dump out the old media to catch it in the strainers to throw out easy and flush the reactor to clean the remaining media into the strainer. This work good if you are using a sink so media will not go down the drain and clog up the pipes.

    Plus They are good when you are cleaning a pump with small part you will not lose them they will be in the strainer.

Comments are closed.