Fish tank sand

[Gatorbait101]

For the past few months I have been looking up what sand to use in my 90 gallon tank that I am setting up. I think I am going to go the pool filter sand route. I just can't figure out what brand will work. My local Home improvement store only had quikrete pool filter sand. Will this work as long as I clean it? I have seen some people use aqua quartz, but it was rather pricey. I was just hoping the quikrete pool filter sand will work. Also, how many pounds?

 

[rileygentner]

i wouldnt go down that road. go straight up to your LFS or landscaping supplier and purchase some good quality river sand. it will make your tank look like a million bucks. dont get sucked into going cheap and nasty, you will regret it later on. --- in a 90 gallon... youre probably looking at around 50 pounds to cover a couple centimeters of substrate. obviously though; if you think you may be wanting to add live plants later on, 100-150 pounds may be needed.

 

[Gatorbait101]

I have thought about going the live plant route, but as a college student, that would cost a lot more money in fertilizer and root tabs each month. You don't think with a lot of cleaning that a high quality pool sand would work?

 

[rileygentner]

it would definitely work...... its just something youre probably going to look back on. then again, thats just my two peice. if you like the look of it and it suits the tank youre setting up, by all means use the stuff, after all its not me looking at the tank everyday, its you, so go with what appeals to you. pool filter sand does definitely work, and usually doesnt require very much cleaning at all aswell. plus its dirt cheap. so if you are planning on setting up a low cost tank than it will definitely help.

 

[Gatorbait101]

I really like the look of black sand, which means I would have to go the fish store route and go a little more costly. But then again, I wouldn't really be able to tell if the sand had fish waste on it so that wouldn't work too much. I may still go with sand from a fish store, I just don't have any actual fish stores within an hour and a half of my house and the one fish store that is almost 2 hours away wanted to charge me $100 for a filter I got for $28 online. Can you give me any advice on fish stocking? When it comes to chichlids, angelfish or the sharks.

 

[rileygentner]

it depends..... if you were going to go american cichlids like angelfish, severums, convicts, firemouths etc you could mix them with the sharks, mainly rainbow sharks, or silver sharks. if you chose african cichlids, it is a whole different scenario though.

in a 90 gallon tank, a small community of american cichlids like convicts, blue eyes and angelfish with a main focus fish like a large firemouth or tiger oscar is usually the go with that theme of tank. these fish will also look great over black or white sand.

 

[Gatorbait101]

I plan on 1 rainbow shark and2 (one person said to do 4) angelfish. Those are my only definites. A tiger Oscar could go in there? Don't they get huge? Any other specific fish hat could go in there. I wanted a school in the tank whether it be a school of chichlids or I just have a pair or two of different chichlids with a school of a different fish.

 

[rileygentner]

tiger oscars do get big... but a 90g could handle it. if that is what you want..... make sure the angelfish are a breeding pair, ir they may fight. if you wanted some schooling fish in there, a school of larger tetras like congo, widow, head and tail light or lampeye tetras would work with the angelfish and the rainbow shark.

 

[Gatorbait101]

Texas chichlids wouldn't work? And for oscars, are they excessively messy? How hard is it to suck waste off of sand?

 

[rileygentner]

texas cichlids get just as big as oscars and get 5x more aggressive ( super green texas that is ). sand is good with keeping the waste at the surface, so all you have to do is scoop it up with a net every once in a while. if you position your filter outlets and inlets and have good circulation, usually you dont have to worry about removing the waste because it will be sucked up by your filter.

 

[Coursair]

If you want black sand, look at Black Beauty blasting sand. It's very cheap at Tractor Supply. As long as you aren't planning on Cories. The edges are a bit rough. It looks nice.

Live Plants don't have to cost a fortune. If you tie or glue Java Ferns to rocks or wood, they are easy.

As far as stocking ? Do your research.
Personally I would never mix an Oscar with Angels. He'd grow up and beat them up IMHO. An Oscar will eat any fish that fits in his mouth. They are very messy and will destroy plants and like to dig up the substrate. But they do have personality.

So if you want Angels, stock compatible fish. Angels seem to have personality as well.

1 Rainbow Shark is fine. Just give it a good hiding spot on one side so it can be territorial and not beat up other fish.

Avoid nippy Tetras. Many are peaceful. Bleeding Heart, Lemon, Cardinals all should work. Large schools look nice.

Another showy peaceful fish is a Pearl Gourami. Not as nasty as the 3 Spot species.

If you prefer big aggressive fish, then that would be a different set up.

I used to sell fish. Now I just play with my tanks.

This is my 55g. It's recovering from some neglect.





Forgive cheesy music
https://youtu.be/AgU-xdgPov8

Current stock
4 Denison Barbs
1 Farlowella vittata
2 Corydoras sterbai ( adding more as I find them)
Oto ( more being added)
14 Neons ( adding 6 more soon)

Planning to add an Angel or Pearl Gourami later.

 

[rileygentner]

everyone says oscars are nasty big brutes who just tear everything up.... but i have never had them do that to me. i have kept the smallest of fish with my oscars.... and the worst they do is sleep on top of them. here is my main 170gallon...

 

[rileygentner]

here is my rainbow shark.... he only gets into a scrap with my silver perch.. other wise, he is very dosile.

 

[nirbhao]

I second the blast media route. Garnet sand is gorgeous.

We briefly had a rainbow shark-- early on for about two weeks while I faced my denial that it wouldn't work in a 29 gallon tank. At that time we had pea gravel and a piece of decor we called the dance floor. It was what looked like a parquet floor for a dollhouse. The rainbow shark was still very small, maybe 2", but it claimed those tiny nooks and crannies under the dance floor as its territory. It would patrol the bases of the plants, but if anyone else came near the edges of the dance floor, it had to move them immediately.

I've read that the more secure a fish feels about its hiding places, the more it will spend time out of hiding.

 

[Brookster123]

If you want black sand you may have to pay up, pfs is my sand of choice with sa/ca cichlids. You'll watch them grab a mouthful of sand and blow it out their gills. I would never use an abrasive "blasting" sand in this scenario, not saying it doesn't have its place. I just would use it in a cichlid tank.

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[Gatorbait101]

Great! Thanks! So how does this sound: 1 rainbow shark, 2-4 angelfish, 2-4 firemouth, 2-4 black covets, anything else? Would the Oscar go with that or should I maybe do another set of smaller chichlids or a school of bosmani rainbowfish

 

[Brookster123]

No Oscar, they need that whole.thing to themselves. Rest sounds "ok". I'd drop the convicts and get 6 angels and 6 fm, the larger group of fm will be more entertaining.

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[Gatorbait101]

That sounds really nice. I just didn't know if that would cause more aggression. Is it true that I need a plant pot on its side to make a home for the angelfish?

 

[Brookster123]

No, angel fish will hang mid to top, some tall plants and high winding dw will give them separate territories, some rock caves and lower structure will give the fm territories. There's always a chance for aggression with cichlids. Angels can be nasty, fms are pretty mild, larger group will spread it out a bit. You'll get the little squabbles they're famous for though. If fighting is going to bother you than get single fish.

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[Gatorbait101]

I don't mind a little fighting, I just was worried about the angelfish losing their fins.