Five gall set up

[TenaciousTriggerFish]

Ey guys I have a five gallon with a filter and light and I wanted to do some abnormal substrate like sand or something but I don't know what kind of sand or how to clean it...... could someone help please??

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Pool filter sand. Put it in a bucket and rinse until the water runs clear. Another option is play sand. It is lighter so will get kicked up a bit but not to bad and it could raise the pH a touch. You can buy quartz sand from your LFS. It comes in many different colors.

 

[TenaciousTriggerFish]

Is quartz the pool filter sand?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Is quartz the pool filter sand?

Quartz is rock. PFS is silica. Both are inert.

 

[librarygirl]

I just used the normal aquarium sand at the pet store but PFS or play sand are cheaper. Just rinse rinse rinse. Then rinse again The tank might still be cloudy when you put it in but that's normal, it'll clear up within a day or so usually.

 

[HooKooDooKu]

I've used sand in all my tanks, in all the various forums. I've used pool filter sand (relatively large grains), playsand (medium grains) and LFS sand (ultra find).

The key is rinsing - rinsing - rinsing, and here is how I do it...

I put the sand in a bucket and use a garden hose to fill it with water and get all the sand moving in a whirlpool. Pull the hose and your hand out and let the whirlpool spin on its own for a moment. Then pour out the water along with what ever is still suspended in the water. Do this again and again until almost nothing remains in the water when you pour it out. The results will loose a little bit of sand. But what remains will be only the heavy sand particals. So even if the water does get stired up in the tank, the sand will settle back down almost instantly.

 

[TenaciousTriggerFish]

Quartz is rock. PFS is silica. Both are inert.

I'm sorry I don't understand that

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I'm sorry I don't understand that

Quartz is a type of rock. Quartz sand is tiny quartz rocks. PFS (pool filter sand) is made of silica. Silica can cause diatoms. Inert means it will not change the tanks water chemistry (pH, etc). Most play sands will change the water chemistry. Play sand is not inert.

 

[TenaciousTriggerFish]

Quartz is a type of rock. Quartz sand is tiny quartz rocks. PFS (pool filter sand) is made of silica. Silica can cause diatoms. Inert means it will not change the tanks water chemistry (pH, etc). Most play sands will change the water chemistry. Play sand is not inert.

From cheapest to price est how do these three rate?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Playsand was the cheapest ($7au per 20kg) but the hardest to wash.
PFS was about $12 per 20kg (in Australia) and very quick and easy to wash.
Quartz sand was expensive ($15au per 5kg) and had more dust to wash off then PFS. I have it in black and it looks amazing.
There are pictures in my profile of my tanks with the different sands. 70g & 8g Betta have play. 10g has quartz. 8g rip and goldfish tank have PFS.

 

[TenaciousTriggerFish]

Quartz is my favorite but uveitis like either of those btw idk if this will effect it but I have a massive filter on this little five gallon tank it is a filter I used a long Tim ago for a 36 gallon tank :/ it won't eat the sane will it (it hangs about 1" from the bottom) my thoughts were just " hey I've got a filter.... Hey I've got a tank.... I have a good idea" .^. Haha but will it be ok?

 

[TenaciousTriggerFish]

Quartz is my favorite but uveitis like either of those btw idk if this will effect it but I have a massive filter on this little five gallon tank it is a filter I used a long Tim ago for a 36 gallon tank :/ it won't eat the sane will it (it hangs about 1" from the bottom) my thoughts were just " hey I've got a filter.... Hey I've got a tank.... I have a good idea" .^. Haha but will it be ok?

Quartz is my favorite but I will settle for either of those by the way I don't know If this will effect.....(I re-phrased that sorry it's all jumbled up above)

 

[Mumma.of.two]

If it does suck it up put some sponge or a piece of nylon stocking over the intake. That will stop the sand getting in. You could also try an shorten the intake tube.