Bleaching sand

I'm in the same situation. Getting ready to take down a large tank with a deep sandbed...that's a lot of $$ invested in sand!!! But from everything I've been told, it's best to toss it. I'm with you...I wish there was a better way.

--AJ

 

If you set it in the sun and allow it to completely dry, I do believe the bleach will completely evaporate in theory.

 

I've bleached things for both my saltwater and freshwater tanks....for salt tanks I rinse in RO and dry for 24 hours. The chlorine will evaporate. I even bleach my sump filter sock. I've read about this on many other forums. It's a good way to kill bacteria. I was very hesitant the first time I ever did it, but I've never had a problem. I would think it would work well for substrate also...but, I think with a significantly larger surface area with substrate, the rinse and drying time would likewise be significantly longer.

 

I've bleached live rock many times

 

I think the sand would be ok, but to make sure the sand was fully dried, you would want to spred it out pretty thin (less than 1/2") and turn it over in the sun at least a few times.

I think one could just dry out the sand and turn it a few times. There may be some organic material left, but if fully dried, I would think it would lose most of its amonia and nitrogens such that it would not cause a huge spike in the next tank if you were worried about it.

-my 2 cents!

-Justin