I am on the verge of buying flourite black because I want a black substrate. Before I buy it online, I just wanted to check to see how hard it is to maintain a black sand. I think that looks really nice, but I am wondering about if it makes a mess when cleaning it, or gets cloudy, or stays dirtier? I do plan to have lots of plants.
Is sand harder to maintain than gravel?
- Thread starter jm667
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
WhiteDevil
Aquarium Advice Addict
it gets cloudy when stirred like all sand does.
The "mess" just rests on top and is super easy to vacuum without disturbing the sand once you do it a few times you get the hang of it.
I got white sand, imagine trying to keep that clean, atleast some of yours will camo into the black LOL
The "mess" just rests on top and is super easy to vacuum without disturbing the sand once you do it a few times you get the hang of it.
I got white sand, imagine trying to keep that clean, atleast some of yours will camo into the black LOL
WhiteDevil
Aquarium Advice Addict
flourite will hold your plants better both viney roots and thick roots, sand wont, sand is lighter then flourite( from what I know color doesnt matter with flourite just a description?) so it will cloud up more but whenever i find flourite and sand ECO-Complete is talked about too.
If its planted go with flourite.
If its planted go with flourite.
Yeah I was going to get eco complete, but people said different batches look different, and some have smaller particles, or different colors in them. I would want to see that first, and its way too expensive to get at a store, but if I ordered it online I wouldnt get to see it first! So I guess maybe I should go with flourite black.
colematthewmalaka
Aquarium Advice Freak
Sand is always a little harder to maintain but that's because it's so fine, it's a little harder to clean and you have to poke around in the sand a little bit so that gas doesn't build up in the sand, this can kill the fish.
WhiteDevil
Aquarium Advice Addict
^^^ thats where eel like fish come into play, I built mine specifically for my kuhli. I just ordered two more from my LFS when he goes to his DC to pick them out. You gotta have them if you have sand, they do half the maintence work of the sand for you.
colematthewmalaka
Aquarium Advice Freak
dolittle1026
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
About the same just cooler looking
WhiteDevil
Aquarium Advice Addict
i think they are omnivores, I just feed the tank and sink frozen brine and bloodworms into his cave for him/her whatever it is.
i feed brine,bloodworms,flakes,sinking pellets,floating betta pellets and algea wafers, the brine and bloods are frozen. they get fruit and vegetables too 2-3 times a week.
i feed brine,bloodworms,flakes,sinking pellets,floating betta pellets and algea wafers, the brine and bloods are frozen. they get fruit and vegetables too 2-3 times a week.
HooKooDooKu
Aquarium Advice FINatic
If you rinse all of the "light" sand particals out of sand, you won't get a cloudy issue like others are talking about.
Now you do have to rinse the sand many times, and you'll lose a small amount of the sand. But once you've thouroly rinsed it, cloudy will not be an issue even when stirred.
Basically, you place small quanities of sand in a bucket (about 10 to 15 pounds at a time in a bucket). Fill the bucket with water. Stir the sand very well. Give the sand about 10 seconds to settle, then pour out the water with the cloudiness. Repeat about a dozen times. Even when you go to fill the tank, start by adding the sand, fill the tank part of the way up with water, stir the sand, then siphon off the water (allong with cloudyness) as fast as possible (you need a large hose of some sort to get the water out quickly).
Doing this will effectively get all the stuff that causes cloudy sand out of the tank. Then, once the tank is full, even if you stir the sand, it will settle back down in less than a minute.
Now you do have to rinse the sand many times, and you'll lose a small amount of the sand. But once you've thouroly rinsed it, cloudy will not be an issue even when stirred.
Basically, you place small quanities of sand in a bucket (about 10 to 15 pounds at a time in a bucket). Fill the bucket with water. Stir the sand very well. Give the sand about 10 seconds to settle, then pour out the water with the cloudiness. Repeat about a dozen times. Even when you go to fill the tank, start by adding the sand, fill the tank part of the way up with water, stir the sand, then siphon off the water (allong with cloudyness) as fast as possible (you need a large hose of some sort to get the water out quickly).
Doing this will effectively get all the stuff that causes cloudy sand out of the tank. Then, once the tank is full, even if you stir the sand, it will settle back down in less than a minute.
Fishyfanatic
Aquarium Advice Addict
I haven't had any issues with tank cloudiness when stirring. Only during the initial setup but that went away the same day. Use a heavier sand like PFS and you shouldn't have the issues. Also, MTS eliminates the need for stirring the sand.
HooKooDooKu
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I've used play sand, pool filter sand, and two forms of aquarium sand. If you rinse all the stuff out that makes it cloudy, you never have a cloudyness issue.
Now the one issue I have had has been algae. I've had diatoms and various forms of algae growing right on the sand, and at least with white and tan colored sands, it can look awful until you learn to get algea under control. White sands also show just about everything (i.e. solid wastes), and given that a black car will look dirtier than a white car, you might encounter similar issues with black sand (don't know, never tried black myself).
Fishyfanatic
Aquarium Advice Addict
I am referring to issues like sand getting into the filter and being suspended during initial setup. I use a combination of pfs and Estes black aquarium sand. Initially I will have black pockets of sand that will float and be suspended in the water but it sinks the same day. Lighter weight sands are sucked into the gravel vac easier than pfs. We have aquarium sand in the 20 but pfs in all the others.
i have playsand in my tank and when i set it up initially, it was cloudy for like 3 hours and then it disappeared
i have some MTS to stir the sand and AB pleco eats all the algae to keep the glass and sand clean...but he also poops alot and it sits on the top of the sand...
and it is really easy to clean the mess on the top just make sure not to suck the sand by getting too close...just swirl the gravel vac like a cyclone and whatever moves gets sucked in
i have some MTS to stir the sand and AB pleco eats all the algae to keep the glass and sand clean...but he also poops alot and it sits on the top of the sand...
and it is really easy to clean the mess on the top just make sure not to suck the sand by getting too close...just swirl the gravel vac like a cyclone and whatever moves gets sucked in
HooKooDooKu
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Oh yea, I forgot about that one. When I was using a FluVal in-the-tank filter, sand was definitely getting into the filter and starting to cause some problems with the impeller. Even though I filtered out all the cloudy stuff, the goldfish in the tank did enough to toss sand into the water and some of it was perpetually be getting into the filter.
That particular issue went away when I switched the goldfish tank to using pool filter sand. The grains are much bigger and therefore heavier. So even when the goldfish sucks some up in his mouth hunting food, it still quickly settles back down and doesn't get sucked up into the filters.
WhiteDevil
Aquarium Advice Addict
When I stir the sand up it settles VERY quickly, I did 8 rinses, 4 in hot water 4 in ice cold tap, If you get a cloudy tank even after the rinsing, use the suction hose for your bottom vacuum and stay about 1" off the surface of the sand, the loose particles that are left and the fish poops/crud on the sand will come off too. Doing it that way you dont loose any sand, jsut the fine particles that suspend and sink.
