caliskier
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
I thought I would post this for those of you who have been looking for sand and wondering what type to use and where to get it. First off, read this, it helped me to know what to look for
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/sand.php
I am writing this to keep you from wasting as much time as I did. This all happened in Oklahoma City. I first went to Home Depot (HD). HD pool filter sand (PFS) that I got was brown and dirty. If you like the color and don't mind cleaning then get that. I was not happy with it so I took it back. Lowes did not have PFS in stock at this time. Next I went to and/or called a bunch of stone and rock stores. No luck, dirty brown sand. Then I tried going the Sandblaster sand route. If you want sand blaster sand my advice is that you call first ask them the color and texture and make sure when they say it is white that they mean white. You might ask how far it is from snow. I found brown dirty sand blaster sand and pure white sand blaster sand. I can say a few things about the sand blaster sand. The sand I found was Quikcrete Fine White Sand. I did not like it, but some people do. It is very very fine and tended to thicken up in the water not like concrete of course, but it was a little two thick for my liking. Also the white was uniform, no other color, did not look natural. (I had a little 10 gal test aquarium) Finally I went to the pool store and found real PFS. It looks like the silica sand in the picture in the link at the top of this post. It looks like beach sand, is not thick, and cleans fast. I went out and got a five gallon bucket, poured a third of a 50 lb bag into the bucket, turned the water hose on high, and held the water hose down in the water while I sifted the sand with my hand. I had each bucket full clean in about 3-5 minutes. Now note that I have not completely set up my tank yet, but I like the color and when I have my tank set up I will add more information as I find it. My advice in all this is that you go to several pool stores and look at the different PFS until you find a color you like. Many people have raved about the PFS on this and other sites. I understand however that you do not want to use silica sand with salt-water.
One other note:
My 125 gallon tank required 100 lbs of PFS. You may want to get one extra bag so that if you loose sand in cleaning you can replace it with sand from the same batch so you have a color match (I do not know if this is a problem, just being safe)
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/sand.php
I am writing this to keep you from wasting as much time as I did. This all happened in Oklahoma City. I first went to Home Depot (HD). HD pool filter sand (PFS) that I got was brown and dirty. If you like the color and don't mind cleaning then get that. I was not happy with it so I took it back. Lowes did not have PFS in stock at this time. Next I went to and/or called a bunch of stone and rock stores. No luck, dirty brown sand. Then I tried going the Sandblaster sand route. If you want sand blaster sand my advice is that you call first ask them the color and texture and make sure when they say it is white that they mean white. You might ask how far it is from snow. I found brown dirty sand blaster sand and pure white sand blaster sand. I can say a few things about the sand blaster sand. The sand I found was Quikcrete Fine White Sand. I did not like it, but some people do. It is very very fine and tended to thicken up in the water not like concrete of course, but it was a little two thick for my liking. Also the white was uniform, no other color, did not look natural. (I had a little 10 gal test aquarium) Finally I went to the pool store and found real PFS. It looks like the silica sand in the picture in the link at the top of this post. It looks like beach sand, is not thick, and cleans fast. I went out and got a five gallon bucket, poured a third of a 50 lb bag into the bucket, turned the water hose on high, and held the water hose down in the water while I sifted the sand with my hand. I had each bucket full clean in about 3-5 minutes. Now note that I have not completely set up my tank yet, but I like the color and when I have my tank set up I will add more information as I find it. My advice in all this is that you go to several pool stores and look at the different PFS until you find a color you like. Many people have raved about the PFS on this and other sites. I understand however that you do not want to use silica sand with salt-water.
One other note:
My 125 gallon tank required 100 lbs of PFS. You may want to get one extra bag so that if you loose sand in cleaning you can replace it with sand from the same batch so you have a color match (I do not know if this is a problem, just being safe)
