Freshwater sand.

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Cornstar

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Nov 7, 2011
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Hi I thought about switching from Crushed coral to sand for my kribensis.

I was wondering what sand I would be able to use, I heard play sand is good. Are there other suggestions for sand?

Also how would I go about cleaning it as well? I have an Aqueon vacuum so idk if it'll suck the sand.
 
play sand or pool filter sand work well, do you mean cleaning it prior to putting it in or during water changes?

prior- rinse it really good and keep rinsing to get all of the really small particles out, it may still fog up but for a lot less time

water changes- ime the poo stays on the top of the sand so you dont need to stir it up to get all of the debris on the bottom, alot easier than gravel i think
 
Hi I thought about switching from Crushed coral to sand for my kribensis.

I was wondering what sand I would be able to use, I heard play sand is good. Are there other suggestions for sand?

Also how would I go about cleaning it as well? I have an Aqueon vacuum so idk if it'll suck the sand.


Cleaning it prior to putting it into the tank? I put mine is pillowcases and ran them under water until the water coming out was clear.


If you meant cleaning the tank when it has sand in it... I personally use PFS (Pool filter sand) and if I keep the gravel vac above the substrate about half an inch it only picks up solid waste and not any of the sand. Very easy to clean.
 
Thanks for the quick response!!!I might bombard you with more questions.
Should I remove all the coral? Also how long should I rinse it for?

And how would I go about adding it to a current tank? How many pounds would I need for 55g tank?
 
Is your ph an issue or the reason for using cr coral? Playsand is usually a carbonate type of sand (which will raise your ph-same as cr coral) but it can be quite fine. Pool filter sand is a silica based sand thats a bit coarser & has no effect on ph. If you want to keep your ph the same, you may want to keep some of the cr coral or put some in your filter. Rinse the sand you choose well-10 or 15 mins in pillowcase (small amounts at time) worked the best for me. A 50pd bag of pool filter sand was more than enough for my 55gal (2-3in deep). Hope this helps!
 
jlk said:
Is your ph an issue or the reason for using cr coral? Playsand is usually a carbonate type of sand (which will raise your ph-same as cr coral) but it can be quite fine. Pool filter sand is a silica based sand thats a bit coarser & has no effect on ph. If you want to keep your ph the same, you may want to keep some of the cr coral or put some in your filter. Rinse the sand you choose well-10 or 15 mins in pillowcase (small amounts at time) worked the best for me. A 50pd bag of pool filter sand was more than enough for my 55gal (2-3in deep). Hope this helps!

Ph is not really an issue but since I added a natural driftwood, it lowered my ph so I decided to add coral to balance it out. I think I'll leave some in.

Thanks everyone! Hopefully I'll find some in a hardware store tomorrow. :)
 
I found pool filter sand at the local pool & spa places in my area. I would check those first! If you have no luck, it is for sale online as well ($12 bag though i dont know what shipping is). Good luck!
 
Is your ph an issue or the reason for using cr coral? Playsand is usually a carbonate type of sand (which will raise your ph-same as cr coral) but it can be quite fine. Pool filter sand is a silica based sand thats a bit coarser & has no effect on ph. If you want to keep your ph the same, you may want to keep some of the cr coral or put some in your filter. Rinse the sand you choose well-10 or 15 mins in pillowcase (small amounts at time) worked the best for me. A 50pd bag of pool filter sand was more than enough for my 55gal (2-3in deep). Hope this helps!


haha u just answered my question from my other thread the playsand is raising the PH! lol ty
 
steez said:
Cleaning it prior to putting it into the tank? I put mine is pillowcases and ran them under water until the water coming out was clear.

That's a great idea. I'm gonna try that
 
Playsand various from location to location. Unlike PFS, it's not really standardized, and in most locations is procured locally or semi-locally. It's not even the same color for everyone, much less from place to place.


Chemically speaking, it's hit and miss as far as carbonates go.
 
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