Any tips on doing this, or is it even necessary to clean it? (from a clean river). I know its impossible to get rid of all the dirt but spent a good 30mins washing some in a fish bin and just doesn't seem to clear even the slightest. :-?

Would any harm come to the fish with it being in there? (myself i don't think so but want to be 110% sure) Have lake Malawi cichlids.

Happy NY everyone

I clean my Hutt River sand by putting it in a bucket and blasting it hard with a hose to remove debris and mud and then I boil the clean sand in a big stock pot. There's a fair likelihood of there being pathogens in river sand so I say safety first. You never completely get all the fine silt out but it does settle. The main thing is to disinfect it

I put the sand through a kitchen seive and collect the larger sand and wash that. Place the finer stuff unwashed in the tank with micronutrient then put the washed stuff on top and the plants love it.

I find that the river sand that i use is already well washed by the river.

I put it straight into the tank, fill the tank with water, stir the sand up a bit with my fingers and net off anything that floats.

I have never had any problems and as Alan said the plants love it

I may well be paranoid from having worked in the wastewater industry although the Hutt River gets a lot of cyanobacteria blooms, which I want nothing to do with

Cyano will be in virtually every fish tank but it only takes off when the conditions are right.

Thanks guys, used the kitchen sieve method took awhile to do it but it sure as beat the countless hours i spent trying to wash it through a bucket and tipping the water out :-? ... though i am going to build a stand with a make shift sieve on top, going to head to bunning's and try to see if i can find something similar to the kitchen sieve, or unless someone knows of something better?

Tank is really murky still this morning but i gather this will take sometime to settle and YAY no brown water

Does one have to boil the driftwood collected? its a 2m piece... going to cut it down to size to fit in, but even then its going to be two 750mm pieces (top bracing stops me from having to put a one cut piece of 1.5m )

A bit late now probably but the best way to fill a tank you are setting up is to put a large plate on top of the media then a glass jug on that and fill up the jug slowly. This avoids stirring up the media.

A bit late now probably but the best way to fill a tank you are setting up is to put a large plate on top of the media then a glass jug on that and fill up the jug slowly. This avoids stirring up the media.

Ah yeah i put a large bowl in then secured the garden hose to fill it up was trying to avoid the stir up but i had the water flow to fast it seems then, bonus is learning this for when i install the other 500L i will know what not to do

Also does anyone have problems with flies and having fish tanks? o_0

i have some how seem to be holding half of aucklands flies population here... tanks are cleaned twice a week room is spotless from dirt or grim, note i don't yet have covers over them... I have tried hanging sticky fly catching tape but that just doesn't work with 3 around not 1 fly caught T T. Tried the other week at bunnings too look for something was safe to leave around to kill flies but no luck.

I have frogs and fly traps outside. Only get the odd fly inside. More likely to find locusts that got away while feeding the reps.

Never had a problem with flies and fish tanks. :-?

so long as you have tank covers the robicans seem to be safe for fishies, or they are for mine. It's a much lower dose of pesticide than if you spray it yourself. You can site them strategically to keep flies out of your house without having them actually in or near the rooms with fish in them

Thanks guys, used the kitchen sieve method took awhile to do it but it sure as beat the countless hours i spent trying to wash it through a bucket and tipping the water out :-? ... though i am going to build a stand with a make shift sieve on top, going to head to bunning's and try to see if i can find something similar to the kitchen sieve, or unless someone knows of something better?

how about making a wooden frame holding a piece of flyscreen material? that's a similar gauge to kitchen sieve and can be bought off the roll at most hardware stores

I would boil the sand.

Its not about the 'dirt' in it...its about the parasites/bacteria etc. that you could be introducing into your tank.