Help With Pool Filter Sand

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Paulcm10

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Apr 9, 2012
Messages
493
Location
Texas
So I got my sand today.
I bought a pool filter sand but i expected it to be a bigger grain. I was told it has big grains but it doesn't..

is there any other types of sand that has large grain?
 
Childrens Play sand is a natural large grain, although it's normally listed on the package as "fine". It is normally larger that pool filter sand though. All purpose sand is usually larger grain, but may not be natural sand (vs man made) and can be very dusty. White silica sand is also large grain, but I don't know how it would be for fish. I know silica dust is toxic to humans and animals. But that is about the largest grain sand that I have seen. Much larger than that, and your talking about gravel.

There's several different kinds of sand available at Home Depot and Lowes and the like, all made for different purposes. Most Play Sand though is noted as being "fine" grain and includes on the packaging recommendations for use in aquariums and fish bowls, among other things.
 
Childrens Play sand is a natural large grain, although it's normally listed on the package as "fine". It is normally larger that pool filter sand though. All purpose sand is usually larger grain, but may not be natural sand (vs man made) and can be very dusty. White silica sand is also large grain, but I don't know how it would be for fish. I know silica dust is toxic to humans and animals. But that is about the largest grain sand that I have seen. Much larger than that, and your talking about gravel.

There's several different kinds of sand available at Home Depot and Lowes and the like, all made for different purposes. Most Play Sand though is noted as being "fine" grain and includes on the packaging recommendations for use in aquariums and fish bowls, among other things.

would you say pool filter sand is large grain?
and where do i get play sand? lowes?
 
local landscaping / stone companies may have diffrent kinds of sand, most of which may be in piles so you can visually see the sand and decided if its a large enough grain.
 
local landscaping / stone companies may have diffrent kinds of sand, most of which may be in piles so you can visually see the sand and decided if its a large enough grain.

oh okay. man i don't know if there is any landscaping/stone companies here haha.
 
It is produced for many applications, one of which is sandblasting, but is for construction and is multi use.

Did you finally get sand you were happy with? I added that link to see that it comes in "coarse", mine is medium and it seems like the texture/grain CaribSea Super Naturals I have in my other tank. It is not quite as white as CaribSea. I rinsed it and now filled tank and it is cloudy, to be expected I guess.
 
It is produced for many applications, one of which is sandblasting, but is for construction and is multi use.

Did you finally get sand you were happy with? I added that link to see that it comes in "coarse", mine is medium and it seems like the texture/grain CaribSea Super Naturals I have in my other tank. It is not quite as white as CaribSea. I rinsed it and now filled tank and it is cloudy, to be expected I guess.

oh its the multi purpose sand? did u get that from lowes?
and well i still have my sand. idk i still haven't spoken to my uncle if he wants this sand cause i really want a lighter batch. mine is kinda brownish..
I'm thinking it would be hard to tell if my substrate is dirty or not...
take a pic of your sand i wanna see what it looks like! :)
 
Long

My phone has been on the fritz and yesterday it went all out lost its operating mind, so no pics atm. Sorry. It is white with clear grains and opaque/cream grains, with few little tiny dots of red, rust, black, brown, tan, pretty much natural looking.

The Caribsea Super Naturals was pristine and was very white, Qwikrete is not as pure white but I was surprised at how white and not tan it was, looks nothing like play sand, I have never seen PFS. Super Naturals is 19.99-24.99/20# and the other is 7ish for 100#!!!

The qwikrete was 7 at lowes my friend got the exact same sand from Home Depot, the day before, I got 10 or 15% off because I asked for a discount due to it leaking a little out of one corner!!!

Also it was windy when I poured the sand into the bucket so the wind blew out some of the dust too.

Rinse, rinse and rinse more, then rinse some more! lol.

My water was clean and clear on my last two buckets but the first one I think I should have rinsed a little more. Today mine is half as cloudy as before but not acceptable yet. My filter is missing a piece so I can't hook it up yet so that is probably part of it.

I would consider the Petco brand sand, my black and the terra color rinsed in a mater of minutes. Although the white seemed a little too white, not natural to me which is what i was looking for. it is 17.99 for (i think) 20# I don't think I needed to rinse it all, it was so clean.

I honestly think my first choice would be CaribSea Instant Aquarium NO rinsing at all, and comes with BB in the sand, but no one around me has it so I would have to order it. If this doesn't clear up enough, I will have to just order it.
 
is it still cloudy?
i am going to put my pfs finally maybe tomorrow if i get a chance to go to the store and get a siphon haha.
 
Clear sailing!

I did appx 75% water change and added a bubble wall for extra aeration and added a small filter until I get my built in one up and running. Came home from work to a sparkling crystal clear tank!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!yay.

My water is all showing good parameters, the same as my other tanks!!! No fish in yet, just plants and rocks.
 
I was reading a thread about Python or Aqueon water changer, I am buying one asap!!! I watched the video from Python, soooo easy. I can't believe I didn't really know about these sooner!
 
i guess i gotta do a lot of water change :).
idk a python is a bit pricey but i might consider it haha.
 
Just got a pic from my friend who did her tank the same day with the same sand she also did 75% pwc ran filter and it was also clear not long after. Yay for the cheap sand...so far. That was the kwikrete medium I mentioned before.

I will try to post a pic here soon.
 
I will try to put my sand in tonight. Ill post a picture after doing a 50% waterchange :)
 
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