thoughts on using play sand

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Salty2freshy

Salty2freshy

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Nov 17, 2013
Messages
37
I cant seem to get my tank to clear up still ..I know everyone has givin me some awesome advice.Took out all the real drift wood added more carbin and filters added three times the amount of filter padding to my sump havnt been running metal halide at all ,water change upon water change,plus three water changes this week..So I was thinking maybe just maybe its the sand I used I bought it at Lowes just regular play sand...THOUGHTS should I take it out or just let it go? Heck set up 20 gallon dirted tank and im not having no problems crystal clear go figure!!:banghead:

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I guess I'm so inpatient and irritated is because the three other freshwater tanks I have are all crystal clear and no problems ever like I'm having with the 180 ...
 
The Trooper said:
There's the problem then i'm afraid.
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But wouldn't it have messed up the water from the get go..or is it just now seeping out all it's nasty? Plus should I let it go and just filter it out or get the sand out of there??? Pool sand is that better???????? This time of year with four kids there's not a lot of money to dump into the tank ..plus did gravel calculater on flourishes website they said I would need 82 bags Sh** that's like 800-1600 dollars for me to add something like that...
 
Salty2freshy said:
But wouldn't it have messed up the water from the get go..or is it just now seeping out all it's nasty? Plus should I let it go and just filter it out or get the sand out of there??? Pool sand is that better???????? This time of year with four kids there's not a lot of money to dump into the tank ..plus did gravel calculater on flourishes website they said I would need 82 bags Sh** that's like 800-1600 dollars for me to add something like that...
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Sorry my mistake i thought you'd only just added the sand :facepalm:

What are the parameters?
 
I used the play sand in one of my tanks for a while. It never really cleared up. I rinsed the sand and everything. In my opinion the play sand is just way too fine so any movement in the tank makes clouds. Just the power head in mine made it cloud up and it wasnt even pointed down or at the front or back glass it was pointing straight across the tank.
 
Nimo said:
I used the play sand in one of my tanks for a while. It never really cleared up. I rinsed the sand and everything. In my opinion the play sand is just way too fine so any movement in the tank makes clouds. Just the power head in mine made it cloud up and it wasnt even pointed down or at the front or back glass it was pointing straight across the tank.
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Oh no you just might have made my husband correct ...lol ...what are your thoughts on pool filter sand?
 
I've used sand designed for aquarium use and came pre rinsed, i still rinsed it and got ALOT of sediment off it.

This is a question for other readers, but if there is no nitrate the tank is not cycled or is really heavily planted - could it be bacterial bloom?
 
The Trooper said:
I've used sand designed for aquarium use and came pre rinsed, i still rinsed it and got ALOT of sediment off it.

This is a question for other readers, but if there is no nitrate the tank is not cycled or is really heavily planted - could it be bacterial bloom?
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Here's my reply to that tanks only been running for 2 months but .why haven't I had any of them problems with my other tanks though cycling that's my ? Plus I did three water changes this week trying to clear it up!is the difference because it's a natural tank with live plants? Plants are growing like weeds! Maybe I should just try to cap it with sand from the pet store then???? Sorry I have a ton of ? I could talk tanks all day long!
 
I have never used canister filters. I also havent used the pool filter sand so I cant comment on that. I delt with the play sand for almost a year because of finances. Once I put it in there I couldnt afford to change it for a while. When I did change it I went with aquarium sand. Then had to go thru the daitoms all over again as the silicates got burned off but after that I have had no problems with my sand even when I vac the bottom of the tank while doing water changes it will cloud up but only lasts for about 1/2 hour after water change and is crystal clear again.
 
I used white play sand in mine, and there were two types of sand in it. One is the larger grain sand I wanted, and the other was a super fine silt/clay. That made a huge mess and took forever to clean in a bucket with constant fresh water getting added. Best bet unfortunately would probably be to take it out and wash it, but no need to spend more money replacing it.
 
Oh, I was asking salty2fresh about his tank. I just noticed his ph is at 8.4. When I converted my tank from reef to fresh I had a similar high ph and high alk, and similar cloudiness issues. It ended up being that hidden coraline algae in the overflows and plumbing were breaking down as I continually fought to lower the ph. It took me 4 months of adding acid and switching exclusively to ro for water changes to finally break it down and my water cleared up. My experience has been that salt water and fresh water absorb and hold alk and calcium far differently.
 
Salty2freshy said:
Yes ....I stil have coralline on the overflows I can't get off....
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Ok knowing that, here are my experiences at more depth. I had a full blown reef for years in my 135. It was a very successful sps tank, but I got tired of the maintenance costs and decided to go back to an "easy" freshwater tank with some live plants. Boy was I dead wrong. From the get go I was battling cloudy water and high ph, alk and hardness. I had cleaned the inner walls of the tank well, but that was about it. I washed out my sump but didn't take the time to remove all the coraline from it or my overflows and plumbing. So after seeing some planted tanks I decided I wanted to go down that route. I decided to try and drop my ph of 8.3 to 7.0 and the battle began. I added ph decreaser and only got a temporary drop. The. Tried a large rodi water change. Same thing, just a temp drop. I couldn't win the ph battle at all. I then decided to clean my sump with muriatic acid and got rid of all the coraline. The next time I changed the water the ph, kh and dh stayed down for two days longer. I then realized I needed to clean my overflows. Removed all the coraline and my ph,kh and dh stayed low and stable for way longer. Eventually the rest of my coraline disappeared and now I keep my ph, kh and dh where I want. The most interesting thing was that when I dropped those 3 parameters permanently, my water turned so clear you couldn't tell the tank even had water in it. Saltwater and freshwater carry and absorb kh and dh differently. Also one last piece of advice, don't use neutral regulator or discuss buffer with coraline or alkaline sand in your tank. It will cause a major precipitation event and you will have a film of calcium on every surface of tank and sump. It doesn't clean without draining the tank and using acid. It happened to me. Use an acid buffer like sechems acid buffer or similar.
 
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