How much sand for a 20 gallon tank?

[Tropical]

I have a 20 gallon long tank and I want to switch from black gravel to black sand today. How many lbs should I get? Is 20 fine?

Also, Petco carries EcoComplete, CaribSea Flora Max, and just plain Petco brand sand. They are all roughly the same price. Which one should I get? I don't have live plants, except for an anubias, so I don't really need the extras that come with the EcoComplete and CaribSea, but since they are only a few bucks difference should I get one of them?

 

[librarygirl]

The 20 lb bag should be fine. I bought one bag of black sand for my 20 gal and it's sufficient. I think I bought the Caribsea Super Naturals black sand.

I think (I could be wrong) the Eco Complete and the Caribsea FloraMax may contain things that could alter your water chemistry such as PH so I'd be careful; at least look at the bag and see what it says it contains. The plain PetCo black sand may be the safer option but maybe someone with experience with the other two can advise further.

Whatever sand you get rinse rinse rinse and then rinse more. lol It may turn the water cloudy for a while but it should settle after a day or two.

 

[Tropical]

Is it safe to add to a tank that already has fish in it? The cloudiness shouldn't bother them, right?

 

[JesseMessykinn]

I got a 50 Pound bag of sand for my Tank, which is 29 gallons, same length as a 20 Long, I used maybe half a bag. which made it about 2 1/2 Inches deep.

 

[Tropical]

Does anyone know if the EcoComplete or CaribSea Floramax will alter the PH?

 

[Decaf]

floramax does not raise pH or carbonate hardness... not sure on ecocomplete


i used a 20lbs bag of black for a 29g, and 40lbs for a 55g and both have 2" depth or less

 

[maxwellag]

Is it safe to add to a tank that already has fish in it? The cloudiness shouldn't bother them, right?

If the sand is just dusty it will be fine, but if the sand is dirty then it will hurt the fish. I would clean the sand thoroughly, just to be safe

 

[maestromad]

I am so glad you asked this question, I have been trying to work out how much sand i'll need and now I know! good luck with your change over

 

[George9]

Be careful adding it though, don't just dump it. Do a little at a time slowly or it will hurt the fish

 

[Tropical]

Thanks all, I got the Petco brand because it was the only kind they had. I'm in the process of rinsing it out. I poured a little less then half in the bucket and must've rinsed it 6 times already, still cloudy. It looks nice though, I bet it will look better in the tank.

 

[George9]

I rinsed my sand for two hours! It's a pain but so worth it. Imagine if you had to rinse 59 lbs if sand for a bigger tank!

 

[Reygan2]

I rinsed my sand for two hours! It's a pain but so worth it. Imagine if you had to rinse 59 lbs if sand for a bigger tank!

Yeah, I started rinsing a little at a time 2 days in advance for my 29g. It payed off though.

 

[Tropical]

Sand is finally in. It looks great, definitely worth the switch. What wasn't fun was when the bag I put the old gravel in broke and spilled all over the floor, resulting in an hour on my hands and knees picking up gravel. :/

 

[George9]

Awesome! Can't wait to see pictures!

Sorry about your gravel

 

[Danny-O]

Here's a tool for converting inches of substrate into pounds, since the packages aren't labeled in cubic inches for some reason!

"How Much Gravel Do I Need?" Aquarium Substrate Calculator