I went the rather stupid expensive route and got mine from pets at home. All I can really think to suggest is to find a small creek or stream and see what you can find there. No guarantees, or there's eBay. I wish I'd looked there first, lots of mopani (or whatever it's called!) on there for reasonably good prices. If I think of anything else, I'll be sure to let you know! Good luck, and yeah, not many on here from UK so it's good to find a fellow Brit!
Newbie to using sand
- Thread starter JacobThomson
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I went the rather stupid expensive route and got mine from pets at home. All I can really think to suggest is to find a small creek or stream and see what you can find there. No guarantees, or there's eBay. I wish I'd looked there first, lots of mopani (or whatever it's called!) on there for reasonably good prices. If I think of anything else, I'll be sure to let you know! Good luck, and yeah, not many on here from UK so it's good to find a fellow Brit!
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JacobThomson
Aquarium Advice Freak
Thanks, ill look around on eBay now, yeah it is, do you ever buy fish from pets at home?
Actually I bought all apart from the yoyo loaches and 1 goldfish from pets at home. We have a maidenhead aquatics nearby where I managed to get a fish with lice. The fish from pets at home are usually in pretty good condition and we've not even brought ich home with any of them. The ones from maidenhead always bring something home with them. You?
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JacobThomson
Aquarium Advice Freak
Never bought from pets at home, they only allow to buy one fish at a time? All of my stock are from maidenhead aquatics! I bought 10 and only lost 2 out of them!
One at a time!? No I've gone in and bought two bags of fish before! It's funny our differing experiences! My local maidenhead is Basingstoke. Where's yours? If its not too far ill look into going there, they have a much bigger range than any pets at home could dream of! Have you thought more about your sand?
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JacobThomson
Aquarium Advice Freak
That's what the employee said?:/ my local one isn't too good, the workers are rude so I to the Christchurch one! Yeah they do have a big selection! Yeah think Im just going to give play sand a go, if it doesn't work it's only £5 not £25!
Excellent! You're planning to swap out your gravel for sand right? I'm not sure how you'll go about it, I've only ever done it with an empty tank. Do you have somewhere to temporarily house your fish? Only, despite rinsing the sand for an hour before placing it in, the water was still really cloudy for about a day after I put it in. Maybe see if you can get some filter floss (pillow filling or something that doesn't contain any fire retardant stuff - hobby craft apparently has it), and run that in your filters to clear the dust. Then ditch it and put your usual filter media and sponges back in. That might allow you to do the swap within a few hours. See if anyone else has any suggestions too.
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JacobThomson
Aquarium Advice Freak
Yeah! I've done some research, I'm going to put tank water plants, and fish into bucket along with filter and heater, then empty rest of water and get rid of gravel. Then ill give the tank a good old clean, put the sand in (which has be thoroughly rinsed over and over) put plants in, filer and heater along with most of water from bucket, then add fish, rest of water from bucket, the clean water, so will just be like doing a water change? If you know what I mean? Ill look now I to getting some filter floss, didnt think of using that!
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JacobThomson
Aquarium Advice Freak
Yeah I like to think I'm pretty organised! So what part of the Uk your from?
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JacobThomson
Aquarium Advice Freak
Southampton! Not far!
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JacobThomson
Aquarium Advice Freak
Just ordered sim filter floss ready for the swap
Excellent!! And awesome, Southampton is close! Been a while since I've been there though. Trying (and failing miserably) to keep my house cool at the moment. It's like a greenhouse - garden faces west so the hottest sun comes straight into the living room through the patio doors. It's a sauna. Goldfish tank is rather tropical at the moment. Hope you're doing better!
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JacobThomson
Aquarium Advice Freak
It's hot here too! 31! Luckily the room with my tank doesn't get any direct sunlight, except about 7 tonight when sun starts going down! I have a fan on in the room too thought! Rest of the house is hot! I'm in the garden watching tanked on my iPad! Can't complain about the weather!
Lucky for some! I have a 3yr old and a 1yr old to entertain. Peppa pig on the telly, fans blasting, glasses of lemonade, and chicken roasting in the oven. Sun tent in the garden, paddling pool out, arguments over the moshi monster duck... Yeah. I'm thinking of popping out for some grown up drinks to enjoy once kids are in bed. LOL! (Anyways, we're totally off topic and the mods will come tell us off.)
Back to sand. .... Um. Go buy it soon. Stick your hose in the bucket and stir like mad. Drain the water off and repeat many, many, MANY times. As they've stated, play sand is much finer than pool sand or aquarium sand so kicks up lots of dust. As soon as you have some bacteria colonising it then it won't cloud your water even if you do stir it up.
Back to sand. .... Um. Go buy it soon. Stick your hose in the bucket and stir like mad. Drain the water off and repeat many, many, MANY times. As they've stated, play sand is much finer than pool sand or aquarium sand so kicks up lots of dust. As soon as you have some bacteria colonising it then it won't cloud your water even if you do stir it up.
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JacobThomson
Aquarium Advice Freak
Lucky for some! I have a 3yr old and a 1yr old to entertain. Peppa pig on the telly, fans blasting, glasses of lemonade, and chicken roasting in the oven. Sun tent in the garden, paddling pool out, arguments over the moshi monster duck... Yeah. I'm thinking of popping out for some grown up drinks to enjoy once kids are in bed. LOL! (Anyways, we're totally off topic and the mods will come tell us off.)
Back to sand. .... Um. Go buy it soon. Stick your hose in the bucket and stir like mad. Drain the water off and repeat many, many, MANY times. As they've stated, play sand is much finer than pool sand or aquarium sand so kicks up lots of dust. As soon as you have some bacteria colonising it then it won't cloud your water even if you do stir it up.
Some grown up drinks may be needed in the weather, especially when the BBQ gets going!
Yeah I'm going to try and get it sometime next week! Ill rinse and rinse and rinse, won't mind standing with the hose on for couple hours I'm the sun! The only thing I've read is about the BB like it will have to cycle again or something? I'm not sure, saw something about keeping some of the old gravel in the tank in like a mesh bag?
No, I'm sure nothing like that will happen. If your tank is well established and you have a good strong filter (by that I mean bacteria rich not blows things around strongly) then changing your substrate shouldn't affect the stability of your tank. Just don't rinse your filter sponges too much if at all for the changeover since all the slimey mulm is a rich breeding ground for bacteria. Test your water a little more frequently over the first week or so just in case but I don't imagine you'll throw yourself into a new cycle.
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JacobThomson
Aquarium Advice Freak
Sorry, took the girlfriend out for dinner. Anyway, I'm super excited, I want to get out and get my sand but do you think I should wait for the floss to arrive first?
Well, get the sand, why not? If it sits in a bag in the shop or at your house, it makes no difference, and you'll have one thing checked off the list. You could bucket it and give it a good rinse now, then only a little rinse when you're ready to use it. Wait for the floss since you've gone to the trouble of ordering it, then you'll be set to go. Excited for you! Can't wait to see photos!
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