Should I wash my sand before adding it into my tank?

[Garf]

I’m just curious how you test that? I use a Hanna for phosphate but obviously I’m testing a water sample. How do you test what’s in the sand? Genuinely curious.

I’ve obtained a sand sample from 1.5 inches down, rinsed the crud of it, added saltwater @ 0ppm, see what, if anything is released into the water after 24hrs, with occasional stirring. If anything glows I’ll refine the test hopefully with the helpful chaps on the chemistry forum. It’s unrinsed aragalive stuff also, that I used to help cycle the tank, along with as many other sources as I could lay my hands on at that time.

 

[Garf]

I’m just curious how you test that? I use a Hanna for phosphate but obviously I’m testing a water sample. How do you test what’s in the sand? Genuinely curious.

You’ve prompted me into testing early, lol. After 12 hr exposure to new salt, I’ve definately got a more than zero reading, which would be expected in surface sand but there’s been a conversation going on about deeper in the bed. I’ve also measured pH in the bed and 1.5 inches down I’ve got 7.9pH which would suggest the bed is nowhere near dissolving at that depth anyway. Off to the chemistry forum I go, lol.