cleaning new gravel....

[dean_alicia]

hey guys,
i have my new 6x2x2 tank coming soon so i need to start cleaning my gravel for it.. what is the best/quickest way to do this.. there is soo much to do it will tank me forever........

[wombat1100]

back breaking hard work mate and nothing else from what i have learned, sorry mate.
did you just want to wash it? or boil and clean?
if you just want to wash it i use a large tub in the bath, fill the tub, add the stone and when its clean manually scoop out the stone, then the water stays in the bath so u can use it in the garden, gotta be water wise remember!

[joz]

All I can say is that it will blow out your target 155litre/day for a while.
Lots of running water I'm afraid.

[Nutter]

I find using a large kitchen colander over a bucket to be the most effective method of cleaning gravel. Simply fill the colander with gravel & run water over the gravel to wash away any sediment. Do it over the bucket so that after you wash each lot you can pour it on the garden or whatever else you want to do with it. It's going to take time & lots of water. When you consider that a tank that size holds over 600lts of water & a 25% water change each week will be about 125lts of water, the couple of hundred litres you will use to wash the gravel is not alot.

[Mick John]

Hi Dean. Wow a 6x2x2! Must be exciting. What ever method you choose, try and enjoy it. I find creating the environment to be just as enjoyable as keeping it. Whilst your doing all the hard work, just imaging what it's going to look like. lol What kind of tank is it going to be? I'm wanting to get my 5ft planted out again. But down on money at the moment. :(

[dragonsmatt]

Well I have a 4x1.5x2 ft tank about 330lt and holds about 80kg of gravel. What I do is I have a 40lt bucket I fill it about half full of gravel then put the garden hose inn and 3/4 fill the bucket with water. I then get my hands in and keep turning the gravel over and you will find alot of crap comes to the surface of the water! then I tip out the water and 3/4 fill it again. I keep repeting this process untill the water stays clean ( bout 4 times) And then I get another bucket of gravel and do it all over again. It takes me at least about 1 hour to do it properly but the end result is worth it. Hope this helps :)