Playsand as substrate?

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.

westward13

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Apr 28, 2004
Messages
75
Location
columbus oh
I hope this question hasn't been asked too many times but I'm new to this site (and hobby) and was hoping someone could help. I'm setting up a 75 gallon freshwater aquarium and plan on getting 1 or 2 freshwater stingrays within the next couple of months and I've been looking for sand to use as my substrate. I've found marine sand that can be used (but is expensive) and was just recently told by an employee at the local aquarium store that playsand would work just as well and is significantly cheaper. He said to just make sure that it's pre-washed playsand and that I wash it myself before setting up the aquarium. Does anyone have any advice and/or input on this? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Chris
westward13
 
Wash it good and it should be ok. Other sands you can use include sand blasting sand and 3M Color Quartz. These are all inexpensive and come in big packages (50lbs or so). Other expensive sands you can buy at a LFS for like $20 for 20lbs (like Tahitian Moon).
 
Very cool. Thanks for the advice, man! Is there any real noticeable difference in appearance between marine sand (say from Estes or CaribSea) and play sand/sand blasting sand?
 
I don't have marine fish, so never delved into marine sand that aragonite or whatnot. Here's a cool link to the color and sizes of 3M Color Quartz, there's also Estes on that page and whatnot. I saw someone's tanks with white/yellowish and black sandblasting sand and from what I could tell it looked like a reef almost, although there were Cichlids in there. Here's also an article with pictures on different types of sand.

http://www.hovertrowel.com/aggregates.html
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/sand.php

You will get conflicting advice on the iron slag, Black Beauty type sand though, some saying there are sharp pieces in there, and others who actually have the stuff in their tank say the Cichlids rummage through there just fine, and that they are also smart and know how to sift sand so it doesn't hurt them, even if there were sharp pieces, it's no more different than crushed coral they say. I bought a pack of Tahitian Moon, and I love it, but I don't love the price, and so next time I'm going to get different cheaper sand that gives the same black effect. It's black too, not greyish black.
 
Playsand was recommended by my fav LFS. It was cheap and I have tons of it :roll: My fish love it :D
How big do the stingrays get?
 
They generally grow to be between 12 and 18 inches in diameter. Should they grow much more than 12 inches, I'll have to upgrade to a larger tank or try to construct one myself specifically for rays.
 
Play sand will work great and is perfectly safe.
My 180gal has 3" of it in the bottom and it looks good too.
Man stingrays would be cool.
Good Luck.
 
Back
Top Bottom