Colorquartz question

[Techcyn]

For those of you who use colorquartz, how well did you rinse it before putting it in the tank? Did you do anything else to prepare it?
Thanks!

[masroberts9]

I rinse the crap out of it. the first batch I thought i rinsed the crap out of, but it took close to a week for the cloud to settle. I thought my fish were going to die.

[supersmirky]

I rinsed mine fairly good due to all the dust. I let the filter do most of the cleaning.

[masroberts9]

I washed it for close to 30 minutes the second time. everything worked out. a little cloudyness for les than a day. that was a 50 lb bag. if i used less probably would rinse less.

masroberts9 added 1 Minutes and 45 Seconds later...

what helped me determine if it was clean...was to wash it an extra 10 gallon tank. since the tank is clear i had a better idea of how clear it was.

[biggin]

I run water through it in a 5g bucket.

I have never had a problem with it clouding up....

Then again I just never have that problem....use a bucket/bowl and a plate and let the water run into them SLOWLY.... no issues....

[masroberts9]

hmmm

[Techcyn]

Great advice! I will rinse it good and use a plate - I hate dust.

[biggin]

Bowl and a plate....

The white and black seem to have lest dust. The reds and blues have more from my experience.

Great advice! I will rinse it good and use a plate -
I hate dust.

[Kathy]

I didn't have hardly any dust with the buff, but I'm mixing white and red this time...I'll let y'all know how that goes.

Might I suggest that if you do need to rinse fine materials that you use this setup. These were purchased from the container store and well worth the money. You can do without the hard plastic support, but it does come in handy.

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l204/kjmillerfw/IMG_6070.jpg

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l204/kjmillerfw/IMG_6071.jpg

[supersmirky]

Good suggestion Kathy. That looks like it would make rinsing much easier!

[Kathy]

It does the trick...I wish that I could take credit for this but Nikolay, the president of the DFWAPC, was the one that turned me on to this gem. The grid size of the mesh is perfect for even the smaller size GM Quartz.

[bra8ndy8]

Wow good idea!!! Thanks for sharing!!

[masroberts9]

I likey!

[OOwl]

Thanks, Kathy! I'm just about to wash about 100 pounds of the Tahoe blue T-grade! I helped a friend move her tanks this weekend and one tank had red, one tank had the blue, and one had the black. Even though she rinsed it all really well, the blue really was the cloudiest, so there's truth in the statement that the blues are dustier than the blacks (which was really quick to clear up). Anyway, that Tahoe blue is a beautiful color and looks fabulous in the tank. I can't wait to put that in my big tank. I was kind of afraid of using that much blue until I saw it in her tank and it looks great. Looks like I'll swing by and get that contraption at the Container Store. What is that used for in the human world?

[Kathy]

Ummm...I'm not sure what these items are supposed to be used for. The mesh basket was a little hard to find because it's all folded up flat in a bag so it's not obvious. The plastic milk crate thing that you set it in was pretty easy to spot.

You are more than welcome to come get this one and use it if you don't want to buy one.

I finally got the larger grade white quartz put in my tank this weekend and even with the rinsing, I had quite a bit of cloudiness. I did one follow up (80%)waterchange the next day and that cleared it up. One thing that surprised me is the larger grade quartz seems to be lighter in weight which totally blows the reason of why I switched grades. Silly me, I thought that larger would weight more...I'm thinking not so in this stuff.