Play sand?

[MattAquaBio]

Will playground sand work? What are its drawbacks? I cant find any pool filter sand around here, small town.

 

[Guest]

it will work, but needs a lot of rinsing.

 

[Stretch]

I've heard the same thing. It tends to have a bit more dust in it than PFS does.

 

[MattAquaBio]

Well, i rinsed it very thoroughly and used my siphon to put the sand at the bottom so i didnt cause a sandstorm and low and behold my tank looks great. Much better. Thanks for the help guys.

 

[malkore]

good luck. i planted in play sand, and it went anaerobic even with MTS and plant roots mixing it up.

I would never use it personally. pool filter sand would be better.
keep an eye on it...if you see any spots turn black underneath, you have hydrogen sulfide pockets forming that could cause problems for fish.

 

[Guest]

I used it ONCE it will turn black nd get gas pockets in it very very fast. As malkore said the MTS want even help with this. I had a pocket of gas come to the surface once in mine. It stunk up the whole house and killed everything in the tank in less then 10 mins. My warrning to you is don't let any black sand stand in the tank for any period of time. If you do it will build up and make methane type gas pocket that once it comes to the surface. Goodnight fish!

 

[Purrbox]

The other thing to watch out for, is that the Playsand may be treated with chemicals that would be harmful to your fish.