Sand for substraite?

[RocketSeason]

Hey gang. I was curious as to whether or not anyone has used sand for a substraite in their FW tanks and whether or not they had good success with it, or if they hate it? etc.

 

[Menagerie]

Have it in two of my tanks that house Lake Tang cichlids. I used Playsand from Home Depot, rinsed it well, added a filter sponge to the intake tube on the filter and off I went! BTW--the fish love it too! They can move it to where they want it and I added mts for aeration.

 

[oscarbreeder]

I also use play sand(from home depot) in my Oscar tank.
Just remember to rinse, rinse,rinse and rinse again.
The fish seem to like it and it looks great.

 

[krap101]

yeah thats the problem. my waters fairly soft and neutral. i heard tang fish need a ph of 8-9 and hardness 8-16

the play sand is just sand isnt it?

 

[Menagerie]

The playsand from HD should not change the water chemistry. krap--Another thing to try instead of adding curshed shell to the substrate, add it to the filter. That way is more effective for increaing the pH and hardness since all the water runs over it.

 

[lreilly]

I have sand in all of my fresh water tanks. I love it and will not be going back to gravel any time soon. All of my fish seem to enjoy it. It looks nice and the plants like it better too.

 

[krap101]

oh sry thought this was my post 8P almost same title ;'(

 

[RocketSeason]

any luck vacuming the sand?

 

[krap101]

yeah you have to hold it a little above the sand low enough to pick up the stuff but hgih enough to not pick up any sand. i usualy wave the tube over the top and the food etc usually floats a little and ill know what to pick up.

 

[snapcrackler]

here is a neat link on freshwater substrates and "freshwater DSB's"

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwgravelfaqs.htm

 

[Menagerie]

I don't have a problem vacuuming sand. It compacts nicely and I just skim over the top of it. In my taller tank, I use a long vacuum and pick up some sand--it makes it half way up the tub and falls back down. If I do pull up some sand, no big loss, it was cheap!

 

[William]

I have Tahitian Moon Sand in 4 of my tanks.

It its great. The fish love it, it looks great, and it more naturally simulates their invorment.

my fish love digging in the dirt since I put it in

 

[shawmutt]

Yep, check my gallery.

Good luck so far with it, but I have to move my tanks soon, so I'm not sure how bad that will be.

 

[William]

Yep, check my gallery.

Good luck so far with it, but I have to move my tanks soon, so I'm not sure how bad that will be.

Just dig the syphon into the sand when your draining the water, just make sure your draining into a bucket.


That owuld seem the logical thing.


However, when I moved my SW tank I just left the sand in the bottom and it made it through okay. I wrapped it in 3 heavy blankets to cushin and what not, however.