Play sand substrate with Black-fin shark

[flipz]

hey everyone,
i have a black-fin shark (also called columbian catfish, silver-fin shark, etc) in a brackish tank. i took her home for the summer with me (considering i was gone for 3 months from college) and i am now moving back.

i had a seperate tank setup up back home, and her tank is drained at college. i have always wanted to have play sand as a substrate, and i figured now might be a good time to do it.

i was just wondering if i could get anyones opinion on putting it into an already established tank, and putting the fish in right after that. i know the whole deal with washing it and all, but i figure no matter how well i do, it will still be cloudy.

is it safe for me to put the sand in (after washing it), filling up the tank, and putting her in right after that? does sand effect any of the parameters? im really only doing it for looks, and don't want to run into any problems (especially considering i will have just driven 3 hours with the fish and she will already be stressed enough).

thanks for any and all input!

-brent

 

[qwertie]

get aquarium sand- its easier!! lol and more expensive.
College students are rich anyway no problems with that lol

 

[TankGirl]

The fish should be fine. When you see fish in their natural habitat it is almost always full of suspended particles so there should not be a problem - it is mainly unsightly.

If you have any interval of time after you add the sand that you could turn the filter off and let the tank settle, even for 15 minutes, it will help a bit. Be sure and protect the intake of your filter with an AC mini sponge, or some other prefilter that will keep sand particles out of your filter motor until things settle down.

 

[flipz]

Thanks TG. I can rely on you for good advice.

And one other thing that I forgot to ask, approx how many lbs of sand would I need for a 29 gallon tank?

PS- I know the 29 is too small for the black-fin, but this is my last year of college and as soon as I am done and won't be moving every few months I'm custom building her a water wonderland. As of now she is still small enough that she fits fine.

 

[TankGirl]

The general rule is one pound per gallon, but if you are not planting anything and just need substrate then about 25 pounds should do the trick.

 

[flipz]

Great. Thanks for the fast response! Now the only problem is seeing if Lowes or HD still have it! I live in Ohio and everyone is already preparing for winter.

Is there anything specific I need to look for? Sorry to not put all the questions in my first post, I keep coming up with stuff. haha

And also, I have read in quite a few threads of people who had sand and switched back to gravel. Can anyone say what they didn't like about it and why they switched back? I figure I'll learn from your mistakes.

EDIT: nevermind. i just read through 5 or so different threads all about HD sand and think i found out everything i need to know!