Questions on where to buy sand and what to buy.

[jasno999]

I am looking for a fine type of sand for my tank. I want somehting that is not gavel but a finer grade sand. Do you guys/girls know where I can find some online and what is the best to get. The tank is freshwater. One tank is a Cichlid tank the other is a community with guppies and tetras.

[Menagerie]

Go to Home Depot and look for play sand. That is what I use for two cichlid tanks. The community tank would probably like the sand, too.

[RogerMcAllen]

Is all sand equal when it comes to FW, or do we still have to look for something argonite based?

[Menagerie]

Not all sand is equal, some will mess with pH. As far as argonite is concerned, the bag my sand came in is not marked. All I know is people on the FW side of this board like the Playsand found at Home Depot. It has different names, depending on where you are in the country. The stuff I found was called Target Playsand and was actually recommended by my favorite LFS guy. He said one 50 lb bag would be around $5 and it would have more sand in it than I would know what to do with. And he was right!!

[jasno999]

So playsand will work. How well do you have to wash it? How do you wash it and do you use and chemicals or additives to clean it?

[medge00]

no chemicals!!!!! what you're really just doing is rinsing it really really well. By NO MEANS add ANY chemicals. some people use strainers, some just use a hose and a bucket. I use the bucket method. dump some sand in. Hose in some water. Swish. empty out water. repeat until water looks clear. search around the forum, i know others have posted on rinsing sand....

[Menagerie]

The sand I ended up with was fairly clean. I put some (5 lbs) in a bucket and rinsed three times. I rinsed a small amount each time and that worked nicely. Once it was in the tank, the tank clouded, but after a night with the filter on, it cleared up. I also added a sponge over the filter intake to prevent sand from getting into the filter.