To rinse or not to rinse...

[Paul Letby]

That is the question!  I'm not sure if this has been hashed out already, I haven't found an article on it except TCLynx's blog article.  I'd like to open up the subject and get imput from all willing participants.  I have seen many people recommending or talking about rinsing their media, but is it really necessary or is it a waste of water?  Around here we have an abundance of fresh clean water, but in other places in the world that's not the case.  I personally see it as a waste, and I pay for my water so I've decided I'm not doing it.  I'm convinced my media bed is a big filter and will eventually collect all the dust from my media.  What do you all think?

[Chi Ma]

I'm too lazy and not OCD enough:)

[Sylvia Bernstein]

I'm a rinser because I mostly use Hydroton and I'm not crazy about all that red dust in my tank bottom if I don't rinse.  Is it necessary?  Probably not.  In Murray's last video he proclaimed himself a non-rinser, BTW

[TCLynx]

Well, I know of people who have gotten away without washing their gravel and I know others who later had to empty the water out of their systems so they could shovel 4 inches of clay sediment out of their sump tank.  I figure my 1/2" brown river rock is small enough that I don't want to fill the bottom few inches of my grow beds with sand by not swishing my gravel in a bin of water.

 

Rinsing gravel with a hose is very wasteful of water but if you use a basket to swish the media in a bin of water, you can actually be fairly water efficient in the washing.

[Paul Letby]

So what I'm getting is that it depends on the media, or where you get your media from when it's gravel.  Is that correct?

[TCLynx]

Yes.  How you deal with your media will depend on the media and how dirty it is.  Even with hydroton, most pro installs rinse the first flood of water to waste to avoid clouding the fish tank for too long.

Paul Letby said:

So what I'm getting is that it depends on the media, or where you get your media from when it's gravel.  Is that correct?

[TCLynx]

Here is a link to a blog post about washing gravel for those who haven't found it.

TCLynx Blog How to wash gravel