Throwing out the moon sand (gross!)

[KLKelly]

I was going to post on disinfecting moonsand. I had it in a tank six months ago and had to take it out.  I put it in one of those small clear rubbermaid bins (about two gallons). I never rinsed it or anything when I took it out.

I brought it upstairs to the kitchen a couple of days ago and was planning on rinsing it and then baking it in the oven to disinfect it. It was on top of the stand alone freezer. I noticed that the husband had put it on the floor during one of his cleaning sprees.

I was up in the kitchen and noticed a bad smell. I smelled the plant bin - nope. Kept smelling it every time I went to the sliding door. It had to be the plants!  I looked down at the bin of moonsand and see some big cat poos sitting on top!!!!!

I guess the fat tubby thought the sand was for him. How the heck did the 16 pound tubby balance in that small bin just cracks me up!!!!!!

Damn cat - that was expensive litter LMAO.

[kennyman]

uggg! but still  . . .

I am not a firm believer in creating sanitary conditions for in my tanks. I had always thought a bit of algae and some anaerobic activity was OK in the tank, but when I read Dr Adey's approach to starting a tank was supprised at how much emphasis he placed on not using sterile media. (Dynamic Aquaria)

Also some organisms that are not harmfull to the fish, but not directly beneficial either have an indirectly beneficial impact. It is a concept called Mutual Antagonism that I learned about in college. An organism can compete with a harmfull organism for resources and space limiting the presence of harmfull organisms. I have substrate around here that I have used for years and only every rinsed it with the hose in a bucket outside to remove excess detritus. I don't sterilize anything anymore although I have been lucky not to have any serious  infections in any of my tanks either (knock on wood)

I would just scoop the poop, rinse the media with a hose outside and drop it in the tank 

[babblefish1960]

I would agree with kennyman on this one, and do something about the char husband who can't stop tidying, that would get annoying to have to run around behind him checking on his  obsessive compulsive cleaning habits to make sure all your good fish stuff wasn't being destroyed.  Don't let him near the filters or tanks with javex either.

[RoxyDog]

I noticed that the husband had put it on the floor during one of his cleaning sprees.

did you just use "husband" and "cleaning spree" in the same sentence?!  lol wow. 

I agree, scoop and rinse, off you go. 

[sas]

uggg! but still  . . .



I would just scoop the poop, rinse the media with a hose outside and drop it in the tank
     
          I would be inclined to scoop, rinse and let it bake in the sun for a bit( if we ever get any?). Cats are known to carry and shed Toxoplasmosis among other shstuff .