sand- ok or not?

[neil_04]

I have a few questons about sand. the first is that i have regular gravel right now but my tank is cycling will removing the gravel and adding sand restart my cycle? its not a problem im only a week and 2 days ito the process and i havent had my spike yet so nothing has really happened.
also does the sand cause any problems, "clogging filters or growing algae" stuff like that?
I was also thinking about mixing sand with some small rounded glass rocks they are about the same size as regular gravel but see through i think they will give a wonderfull touch of color to the bottom of the tank. plus i get 25 pound really cheap through one of my distributers.

 

[mgamer20o0]

might set it back a little but should be fine. most of the bacteria is in the filter. since you just started really not much bacteria to lose. what kind of filter do you have? you can always put a pre filter to keep sand out of the filter.

problem with adding stuff to the sand it would fall down to the bottom anyways. i wouldnt add them. plus i also think they wouldnt look to well.

 

[neil_04]

i have a emporer 280 im worried because it has the long intake tube with the center level strainer, it goes all the way to the top of my rocks about 1 1/2" - 2". sand just seems light to me like it would get stirred and pull right into the intake. i thought about glueing some natural rocks "that are in my aquarium now" together to go around the intake and keep the sand back but i dont want to disturb the filtration. at any6 rate i like the look of sand it really brightens things up

 

[fisch]

You can put a sponge on the intake so it won't suck up sand. In fact you should do that when adding sand because it make take a day or so to completely settle.
Does your filter have an adjustable length intake tube? Sometimes they come with a shorter and longer tube. You could switch to the shorter tube if that is the case.

 

[mgamer20o0]

i would use a sponge over the intake like fisch said. might also look to pool filter sand tends to be a little mroe heavy stays down better.

 

[WhiteDevil]

dont be suprised if you roast that filter. I did the sponge thing then the filter bag on top of the sponge and my sand still got in, at 2am thats not a sound that should exist.

 

[neil_04]

i dont want to burn my filter up that would be a bad thing, i thought about doing a wet dry or canister do these work better with sand? My filter does have a shorter tube or you can disconnect the center strainer and attach the regular end to it at center level, but i like the idea of having suction from the bottom and the mid level when i put food in to try and spike my ammonia the flakes hit the current and u can see how the floating stuff hits the mid strainer and the heavy stuff falls to the bottom and eventually makes its way into the lower intake

 

[WhiteDevil]

canisters are the way to go with sand tanks. you cant suck from the bottom anymore, you need atleast 3-4 " of water between the pick up strainer and the sand.

I went thru 3 150's in two weeks, two in a matter of hours. I got a different filter.

 

[severum mama]

If your Emperor intake is too close to the sand, just cut the intake tube to make it shorter and replace the end piece. Canister filters are great, but not needed in your situation unless you really want a new filter. I've had many tanks with many different kinds of sand and have never roasted a filter as a result. I make sponge prefilters to fit over the intakes and it has worked every time. It's also largely dependent on what kind of sand you use, IMO. I've had Estes black sand and Caribsea African cichlid sand that had much smaller grains than the pool filter sand I've used. I've heard the same issue about play sand and would never use it for that reason. Pool filter sand is cheap, has large grains, and is very unlikely to be sucked into the filter unless the intake is right on top of the sand. I'd recommend it for use with your Emperor, but you may want to cover the intake with a sponge or filter bag just to be safe.

 

[WhiteDevil]

Severum, your grain size was larger then the grain size I have I think .003mm on grain size. Caribsea is what I have the Marine Sand, its a little bit finer then the TMS black,more floury.

 

[severum mama]

I didn't use the TMS. The Estes brand is similar I would guess, it was so fine that some of it didn't even sink for several days. Still no issues with the filter I was using- Marineland biowheel that time. The Caribsea African cichlid sand is the finest sand I've ever used, much more so than the marine sand (which I've used several times in marine tanks). I used an Aquaclear on that tank with no problems, even though my shell dwellers dug like crazy.

The pool filter sand I have in a couple tanks now is much heavier than either of those, or play sand, which is why I recommended the PFS.

 

[neil_04]

hmm maybe ill try it out i was thinking about the black sand as well but it sounds like the PFS might be the best route i can cut the tube on the filter how far would you say i should seperate sand from filter a few inches or so wil this take away from the sweeping action that happens now cause the emporer sure cleans better than my aqueon filter on my 10 gal

 

[severum mama]

Just have the intake a few inches above the sand. It should be fine, especially if you cover the intake with a sponge, filter bag, or even pantyhose.

 

[Sicklid]

Pool filter sand, folks... Pool filter sand... I can't tell you enough how cheap & easy it is to maintain.

 

[WhiteDevil]

Sev, I did all 3, if you use pantyhose, get atleast 2 pair to wrap the intake tube with, wrap the whole entire tube the mid level inlet and the impeller inlet too. I had 3 pair on mine. With my new XL45 I dont need any pre-filtration.

 

[HN1]

I've never had trouble with sand and haven't covered the intakes at all. I originally intended to but I was all out of pantyhose.

 

[WhiteDevil]

Buddy Christ snagged em, eh?

I dunno what the deal was but I went thru 3 penguin 150's in 3 weeks 2 in a day. All of em had the same problem and they were bought at different locations. I settled, yes settled but not commited in the least bit on a XL45 from whisper/tetra, no pre filter at all even left it running WHILE cleaning the sand and had NO noise what so ever. I am going to get a C220 marineland in the future but right now I am content with the filter I got and commiting more time to breeding angel food and getting the plants going. 1 week and I got alot of new growth. I dont have a deep layer either, I am maybe 1" deep I need to get some more sand.