Types of sand

[cameracorpus]

Good Tuesday to everyone!

I'm putting this on the Cichlid forum since they treat substrate differently than many fish do:

I've use pool filter sand exclusively, but saw on this forum that others used different sand. So in my new used tank I tried the play sand due to price, washed it to the point of silliness, and still have cloudy water a day or so after a WC.

I have a lot of fine blasting sand (over 150lbs), but just attempted to wash it and after a few hundred gallons of rinsing, stirring, and all the usual it still clouds the water in the bucket, so I'm kind of afraid to use it. I saw the other post on blasting sand but nobody said they had this problem.

Anyone want to share their experiences?

[peterp63]

I bought sugar sand a while back for one tank and I wish I had used PFS. The sugar sand is just too light... it took a couple of days to settle and it looks nice and white, but it can get into places that you don't want it quite easily (pumps, filters, etc.).

[cichlid1409]

i've used play sand in the past before with no problems. yes i had to rinse the bejeezes out of it but after it settled no problems with cloudiness. is this your new set-up? are you sure its 100% cycled? that could cause cloudiness after a water change.

[Gene D]

Have you tried Eco-Complete Cichlid sand? It is not cheap, somewhere between $22-35 per 20 LB bag depending where you buy it. It has a salt and pepper (more salt than pepper) appearance and looks great in the tank under lights. Once it settles you usually have no isuues with cloudiness plus it helps buffer your aquarium water PH in the mid 7's range.

I actually get more compliments on the substrate in my tanks than I do for my rockscaping and the fish from the casual vistor (i.e. non fish freaks).

[cameracorpus]

Mike,
Yes, it is the new setup. And it smelled pretty bad when I siphoned the sand out. Still waiting on my "good" HOB filter to arrive, so that may be a big part of the issue. But the play sand was so fine I figured there would be more problems in the future. It is now in the garden. I wanted better karma from the blasting sand, since it is a really cool color, sort of reddish brown, but I guess not. I still may mess with it. For now I'm running the tank with no media to isolate the rocks as a possible source also.

[RonR.]

Cost a bit more..........I use CaribSea's Aragonite Select sand. It is white, helps with my pH and is heavier than the aragamax (sugary) size they sell. Bought it about 5 years ago.....think it cost me around $24 for a 20 lb bag.

Here are a few pics to show you what it looks like:









Sand is denser than gravel. I used gravel up until 5 years ago and love sand much better. I don't ever siphon my sand. I use 2 6080 tunze streams to gently sweep the gunk, poo toward my 2 2217 eheims located at either end of my 6 foot 180g Oceanic tank. I have them on an auto-timer and turn them on 4x daily for 15 minute cycles at 6am, 12 noon, 5pm and 12 midnite.

Hope this helps you.

[cameracorpus]

Very nice looking fish! When I said siphon, I meant siphon it all out to be replaced when I make up my mind. I usually don't siphon mine either due to the snails I have in the sand and the fact that I have too many rocks to get around. Both commercial sand recommendations look good, and I bet I can find it here in Corpus, albeit at the higher price!
I've been looking into the powerhead uses since the concept is new to me. Very cool idea. I only have a couple of old UGF powerheads right now, so I guess a good one or two will be added to my wish list. I know my 55gal would benefit greatly.

[Matt in Houston]

Take a look at Caribsea Crystal River sand...its a fairly new product, similar to their torpedo beach sand but more uniform in grain size. Its inert and wont affect ph at all. Im using it in my discus tank and its great so far.

[Darbex]

I use PFS from Leslies and it works great

[SOULJAA]

+1 Leslie's Pool Sand. This is what I'm currently using for my 1st ever sand experience, and so far no issues whatsoever...besides the occasional releveling due to the fish.

[cameracorpus]

Thanks for the replies. For now, I had my kid pick up a bag of pool sand. I'll look for the more exotic stuff as time permits. Pool sand has always worked for me also, but the different color shades attracted me to the other stuff. A plus with pool sand is that the fish moving it doesn't cause floating silt, which the play sand was doing. At least mine doesn't, and they move it by the truckload.

[tam]

RonR how many bags of sand did u end up buying and whats the footprint of your tank im trying to get a estimate on how much to buy also. and how deep is your sand? looks like 1 inch

[RonR.]

RonR how many bags of sand did u end up buying and whats the footprint of your tank im trying to get a estimate on how much to buy also. and how deep is your sand? looks like 1 inch

Tam, I don't remember how many bags I bought. There are calculators on fish forums that can help you figure out how much sand you need based on how deep you want your sand bed. My sand is about 1.5" to 2" deep. It used to be deeper. My mobas love to dig!!!

My tank footprint is 6'long by 2' deep. My best guess would be that I have between 100-125 lbs of CaribSea Aragonite Select sand. I had John from Houston Aquatics off Shepherd order this sand for me in the largest size bags about 5 yrs ago.

Whatever sand you get, make sure to rinse it very well as this time spent helps to clear your water faster.