Good sand substrates

[rossmort]

I just added pool filter sand to my 5 gallon desk aquarium and it is also a little cloudy. I rinsed the sand quite well but I guess not well enough! Oh well, it should settle soon. I moved up to a bigger filter also so it should get the stuff filtered out. Now, I just have to decide if I want to use this for my 125 when I set it up. Going to be so much rinsing :-(

 

[Guest]

That's what I'm hoping too. I turned on my outside water faucet and realized I had a cracked pipe, so I had to bring bucketfulls from the bathtub instead to rinse the sand. What is pool sand made of and is it cheaper than play stuff?

 

[rossmort]

Honestly I don't really know what it is made of. It is pretty fine and very uniform. I bought it for 9.50 for 50lbs but I hear you can get it for half that at other places (Got it from a pool install place).

 

[TankGirl]

Okay then, that explains it. If the tank has fish in it check for a nitrite or ammonia spike, because changing out substrate can cause a mini cycle (done it!), and that might be part of the cloudiness you are seeing. Otherwise if you have a HOT Magnum or can get a diatom filter for a few hours that would probably take care of it, or just "tincture of time" will do the trick.

 

[Guest]

This happened immediately after adding the new substrate. The sand was dusty and I must not have rinsed it well enough. It's a lot better than it was yesterday, but still I can't see the back of my tank. Yesterday I could only see a half inch into the water. I was wondering if there was some way to skim out the dust. I think I might want to do a quick vaccuum once it settles more. TY for the response tankgirl.

 

[TankGirl]

Pool filter sand (that is what I like to use) is basically a quartz based sand that will not buffer your water and is slightly coarser than play sand, which I like. It is also pretty cheap. Even when you take the hose and blast it in a bucket, stirring it and stirring it and stirring it.... for what seems like hours it will still be a bit cloudy, but it really will settle down.

Give it a good stir once a month to prevent anaerobic patches, and get a prefilter to go on your filter intake to protect your motor, as it will get in there. (I probably already posted about this earlier in the thread but I am too lazy to go back!! Sorry! ) They are just a couple of very important factors to keep in mind when it comes to keeping a sand tank.

 

[Guest]

Thank you Tankgirl. I will be happy with my new substrate once it settles. It looks so much nicer than the store bought stones. I can already see my african cichlids loving it and digging in it.

 

[Menagerie]

FYI--TG recommended a prefilter to me a while back. Thank goodness she did! I was told the motor on my filter might burn out if sand got in there. Anyway, the prefilter works great and my tank cleared up within a day. Thanks TG!

 

[Guest]

Can you recommend a prefilter for the fluval 304?

 

[TankGirl]

Get an AquaClear sponge (I use the Mini) and cut an "X" into one end of it with an X-acto blade or sharp knife, and shove that onto the end of your intake tube, after removing the strainer.

It gets gunked up much more quickly than the main filter, and may even need to be rinsed out every other day, depending on your fish load.

 

[Guest]

I picked up something similar and stuffed it in the end. Hopefully, that should help. Thanks for all the advise.

 

[YellowMP5]

Depending on your location, many people are having a problem finding the home depot Southdown Play sand. I managed to find a home depot (Chicago) which had the sand in stock for my 110g reef tank. I was curious to see if the sand was good for freshwater tanks, but I guess this forum covered that already!

If you call your local Home Depot etc... here is the information on the sand in question.

Model Number 420100, SKU# 578-819 and UPC Code 0-90604-20100-2

Cunch

Hi everybody. I am new here as you can see by my post count . I had my tank for about a year and decided to renew it by adding sand and stumbled onto this forum when doing a search.

anyways, sorry to bring this thread back from the dead but i just came back from a local home depot (pembroke pines, south florida) and they never heard of the above sand. You would think that being in south florida they would carry that product but no luck.

While reading through the thread I did not pick up on any other sand product that i should use or did I miss it? Looking for a cheap product and this is for a 10G tank so I don't need 100lb of sand. Btw, my ph always seems to be around or under 6. What sand will help me keep it around 6.5-7.0? How many pounds of sand do I need? thanks.

 

[Menagerie]

[center:5711df123b] Welcome to AA, YellowMP5! [/center:5711df123b]

HD carries the cheapest sand. There is a thread in the SW forum about Playland Season--Shout when you find some. The other place I have seen sand is in Toys R Us.
Any sand with shell/coral will raise your pH. I believe sand with aragonite will also raise pH.

You won't need too many pounds. I bought the smallest bag they had (@50lbs) and used it in a 10, 20 and 29 gal, then I used the rest to make a cactus garden. But it cost less than $5CAD.

 

[YellowMP5]

Thanks a lot for the welcome. i saw some sand at HD but wasn't sure if it will be right for the tank/fish. so as long as i rinse it well it should be fine?
so i guess i will be looking for sand with shell/coral. i imagine that it won't be as fine as "real" sand?

btw, its not an issue of money, just hate to throw so much sand away after i used a little in my tank. also, hauling it home must be a pita, huh?

thanks for the advice. i'll try not to ask stupid questions before searching the forum

 

[TankGirl]

There are no stupid questions - so please don't hesitate. The more questions you ask, the more material available to be searched, if you want to think about it that way!

The sand from BORG should work, and just rinse it really well so the cloudiness won't last forever. The finest sand is not ideal, just because it will get into your filter and take longer to settle, etc.

 

[krap101]

yeah it costed me 7$ Ad for my 50 lb bad of sand. its aragnite. you can test this if you put a little vinegar in a jar and put the sand in. it should bubble if its aragnite.

if you get the kind i got its for sure aragnite.

its called "tropical play sand" it says "straight from the carribbean" and "sterilized"

gl and hf