I really want to use sand in my tank

[bradwc2002]

is there a way that i could use sand from a beach and wash it, or something, has anyone tried or know if its possible, thanks

 

[Lonewolfblue]

I wouldn't. Could possibly bring in something bad to the tank. And if from the Ocean beach, will have salt mixed in, which you don't want. Possible parasites, etc.

 

[bradwc2002]

could it be boiled? im just trying to save money, i just made a 40 gallon tank
so im trying to keep things cheap

 

[Lonewolfblue]

I used Pool Filter Sand in my tank. Check the local pool shop and see what they have. The sand they had here is very similar to the beach in color. And it was 9.99 for a 50lb bag, which was perfect for a 55G.

 

[bradwc2002]

thanks ill do that tomorrow and should that be washed or how do you do that

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Yes, you have to rinse it out well. I just used a 1/2G koolaid container, and put some in and rinsed while stirring the sand around, then when the water that was overflowing looks clear, then I added it to the tank. Took a while, but was well worth it. Then, when adding the water, take a large plate and turn it updside down in the tank, and run the water over it slow at first, but when the water get's a little depth, you can turn up the water pressure and fill it up. It will still get a little cloudy, so if you did a 75% PWC, it will clear the water up a bit. Then, don't run the filter for a couple hours, it should clear up fairly quick. Then add the filter.

 

[bradwc2002]

thanks alot

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Here's the color of mine......

 

[severum mama]

LWB- what a sweet shot of your eel!!!

I'll definitely agree on the merits of PFS as a money saver. I got a 50 lb. bag in Bloomington (where everything's expensive) for about $15. You can expect to pay that, max. Depending on what size of tank you have, 1 bag may be enough, but you may need to buy 2 bags for anything larger than 50 gallons, JMO. Still, it's much cheaper than buying sand from the LFS or risking contamination/leaching from beach sand. My PFS rinsed out really easily. I rinsed it in a 5 gallon bucket in my bathtub by pouring off the cloudy water whenever the bucket filled. I stirred it with my hand at the same time, and then it was ready to go in my tank.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Actually, 50lbs was a little too much for a 55G. I used about 90% of it, and was still a bit too much, lol. I've seen other members post as low as 6.50, and as much as 15.00 for a 50lb bag.

 

[severum mama]

Like I mentioned, Bloomington is on the high end for EVERYTHING. lol.

 

[bs6749]

Same here for the pfs. I only used about 3/4 of a bag in my 55 gallon tank as well. I took the other bag back to the store. I had enough left over to do my 10 gallon tank but I swithed that over to Eco.

 

[SeanMurphy]

I've recently switched over to PFS in my tank. Pictures are available here. The local pool/hottub shop (Holland Home Leisure) sells it in 25kg bags for $9.99CDN a bag.

One caveat I found is that if you're running an Aquaclear (possibly others) with the brushless impellers, the impellers often get crudded up with the floating sand bits if you run them right after filling, and make that horrible screeching noise of an off-balance impeller. You'll always get some floating sand that will settle out after a few hours to a day, no matter how dilligently you wash it. My solution was to make some pre-filters by cutting an Aquaclear sponge filter in half, slotting it, then sliding it over the intakes. After the water has cleared, I took the pre-filters off (careful not to disturb the collected crud). On rinsing, I found that the pre-filters had collected a lot of the silt that was floating in the water, the stuff I missed when rinsing the sand.

Possible that I didn't clean it as well as others might, as I did it with a bit of impatience and a large bucket. Still, the water was crystal clear after a day or so, and the tank looks spectacular compared to the 10 year collection of mismatched gravel I had in the tank before.

Also, my plants seem to love the sand and have taken root a lot quicker than I'd expected, it being simple sand with no fancy plant materials besides dosing the water with ferts.

 

[severum mama]

Weird, I never had that problem with my sand and HOBs. I rinsed mine until my hand was raw from stirring.

 

[bs6749]

No problems here either. I filled a 5 gallon buket 1/4 full and rinsed, dumped water, repeated several times and then added the pfs to my tank. I did several buckets like this and I have had no problems with tiny pieces of sand in my HOB filter. Just rinse the sand well and you will be fine.

 

[theotheragentm]

I used a 50lb bag of Leslie pool filter sand. They are the biggest pool supply chain in the world now. It used to be just the United States. That was a pain in the ass to clean. The stuff was DIRTY!. I ran over 200 gallons of water through it and it was still dirty. I put it in my tank and I had to do a 90% water change to get rid of the cloudiness.

 

[dsmalls]

Pool filter sand for teh win! I picked up a bag at the local pool store and couldn't be happier with the looks. It's going on a year since I did the gravel -> sand swap and haven't had any major issues. You don't want to vaccuum like a maniac so as not to get sand in the filter. A time or two my HOB stopped working because it ate some sand. No big deal, I just took it apart, cleaned the spinning apparatus, and it was good to go.

As an added bonus, every single snail perished. You know, the tiny hitchhikers on LFS plants? I don't know if they died from the drastic gravel disappearance, but they're gone.

 

[jbarr]

For a change, I happened to get sand-blasting Silica Sand from my Home Depot. Very fine, but not sharp, white sand. Only complaint is the inevitable diatoms from the excess silicates.

Depends on what look you're going for, but I would say youd be easier off with the PFS