Sand

[rjrossi88]

Has anyone ever used Ace hardware pool filter sand in their tanks? Any opinions on whether it would work well? I'd really love to replace my gravel with sand and it's fairly cheap.

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[Delapool]

I have heard of pool filter sand being used but have never tried this one. Hopefully someone knows.

 

[gilpi]

I use pool filter sand in one of my tanks. Easy, cheap and looks great.


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[Bbarb27]

I have pool filter sand in 6 of my tanks. It's inexpensive and has worked very well. My cories love it.

I purchased mine at Menards, not Ace, but am assuming the Ace sand is similar. Rinse it well before you put it in the tank

 

[Delapool]

Just out of curiosity, but is there a sand out there that is not the best for tanks?

 

[gilpi]

Just out of curiosity, but is there a sand out there that is not the best for tanks?

I'm thinking play sand. It's sold at the depot and others is too fine and more dusty than pool filter sand. Mine cleaned up well with a quick rinse. Still took a few hours to settle at first, after that was fine.
I paid something like 12$ for a 50 lbs bag. Only down fall, I think there's only one color, white.


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[rjrossi88]

I'm thinking play sand. It's sold at the depot and others is too fine and more dusty than pool filter sand. Mine cleaned up well with a quick rinse. Still took a few hours to settle at first, after that was fine.
I paid something like 12$ for a 50 lbs bag. Only down fall, I think there's only one color, white.


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I was going to say the same thing. I was told to avoid play sand from the depot because it's muddy and a bit dusty.

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[gilpi]

Also, play sand looks gray and dirty where pool filter sand is a nice white color.


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[Delapool]

Thanks - appreciate the replies. Very handy information.

 

[claudio1]

i have play sand in my tank for over a year now and never had problems with it.



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[Brookster123]

I'm using the play sand from home depot, it needs extensive rinsing prior to tank use as it is very dusty. Once it's settled though, very nice. The sand sifter ' s and corys I keep seem to appreciate it.

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[Daniel12490]

For a black colored sand you can go with Black Diamond Blasting Sand. You get 50 pounds of sand for only $8 at any Tractor Supply Store. You will need to wash it once thoroughly to remove the lighter pieces that will float. Other than that it works great with a planted tank and is safe for catfish. Just converted from eco-complete to blasting sand and am loving it. Oh, one last thing, make sure you get the 20/40 grit. Anything smaller will float or move easily in the tank.

 

[rjrossi88]

I actually did have somebody recommend the black diamond before. The only thing is I have a dark background and I'm trying to make it look a little brighter without taking the background off. I think I'm going to try this sand from Ace Hardware and will update with how it works.

Is there a particular depth I should look for? I don't have anything that really needs to borrow. But I do know that gas can build up if you go too deep. I'm just not sure how deep that is.

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[rjrossi88]

I was finally able to get my tank changed over to sand. I have say, I'm pretty happy about the look. Although, I would really like to change up the scenery inside. I'm getting bored with the same old. I just didn't want to go changing too much at once, plus didn't want to remove too much of the BB without giving the new substrate time to build some.

Here's the before shot from a little while ago.


And here's from 2 days after the changeover.


I'm going to be restocking in the coming months after the BB has time to regrow. I lost a lot of my fish to illness back in the fall and haven't had the time to restock. And also will look into ideas of rescaping for a more freshwater look. I want more greenery in the tank. Feel like there just isn't quite enough coverage to make the fishes feel safe.



I can tell you this, my kuhli's are loving there new bedding! Here's a few of them. I had never really seen all of them out while the lights were on. Now they won't go away lol

http://vid757.photobucket.com/albums/xx218/cranium1313/Mobile Uploads/VIDEO0044_01.mp4


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[rjrossi88]

My apologies about the quality. And sorry for the redirect for the video. I can't figure out how to post it from my iPad.


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[Delapool]

Good to see the progress I was wondering what was in the mesh bags if I'm seeing correctly?

 

[rjrossi88]

You are seeing correctly lol. It's a couple of bags of the gravel I had in my tank. I was a little worried that by removing all of that gravel, it would be removing a great deal of the beneficial bacteria so I decided to keep some of it in there to ease the change. I know the amount of bacteria in the substrate is minimal but it's just me lol.

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