White Sand UPDATED 12May08

[CichlidFan]

I've received a large sample of the white sand from my contractor friend, and I will be setting up a 58 Oceanic this week using this sand as the substrate. I'll basically be cycling the tank for the first few weeks, but will run some viscosity tests on the fine sand to see how it impacts the filtration systems. I intend to run a 2217, and Emp 400 and a couple powerheads in there, we'll see if anything happens to the filters or power heads.  






and one more...


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Hope you like the sand, one cool thing I can see in it already, it forms little waves like in the desert or on the bottom of the Ocean.

CF

[blacksmith37]

Re: White Sand

Presumably this is the sand used for mortar It is nearly pure silica (as opposed to "beach/play" sand that has a few % iron oxides ).
I have used it in a few tanks and it has not been very good for plants. It is too fine/small ( can't find my screen analysis) for many plants. Sag grow pretty well, crypts tolerate it , Amazon swords do poorly, Anubias also seem to do poorly (I didn't try many).I have added limestone to the filters and my pH is around 6.8.
I have emporer and Ehiems and don't have any interaction with the sand; it packs down pretty well . I rinsed a little but mostly let the filters take care of cloudyness.

[CichlidFan]

Re: White Sand

I believe your correct in the fact that it maybe a poor choice for plants, but it is not used for mortar to my knowledge. It is considered to be a standard sand blasting material. It is known by those who use it as "sugar sand"

It compacts very tightly in a fish tank, and is easy to identify waste material due to it's clean white color, but one must use caution when vacuuming, you will suck this stuff right up the vacuum if you dont' use cautiion when cleaning.

It appears to be so fine as to NOT be an issue for most filtration systems.

CF

[FIREFISH]

Re: White Sand

CF do you have it (58 gal) set up yet? I can't wait to see it!!!! FF

[CichlidFan]

Re: White Sand

I will have it set up in the next few days, I worked on cleaning the 58 last night, but, last night was my water change night, and I had to do 7 tanks, and then the water testing.....bla bla bal, I gave up on the 58 at about 10:30...and went to bed.

I'll have those pics up by Sunday or sooner.

CF

[CichlidFan]

Re: White Sand

I've finished setting up the 58 Oceanic with the "sugar sand". It is a bit cloudy at the moment, but not bad. During the process of filling the tank, the sand did not move much at all, and there was no cloudiness to speak of.

I intentionally mixed up the bottom a little after hooking up my Emperor 400 and an Eheim 2217. The filters have been running about 40 minutes now and I'm very pleased to report not one sound from the impellers when the sand was tossed up into the main body of the tank, nor is there a massive residual cloud to deal with. I'll take a few pictures before I hit the sack, right now I have some other fish related chores to take care of.

Later

CF

[algarciajr]

Re: White Sand Now W/PICS

I like the way it looks, do you vacumn your gravel when you do water changes?

[eklikewhoa]

Re: White Sand Now W/PICS

Looks good CF!

Al, I would definitely vacuum gravel....with sand just stir occassionally and siphon on the surface to pick up the detritus.

[CichlidFan]

Re: White Sand Now W/PICS

Yeah,  you do not have to nor would you want too, disturb this sand during normal cleanings, it would be best to just pass the vac along the surface picking up the waste. Waste products should be easy to see, and hopefully will be picked up by the vacuum by just holding the vac over the top of the waste.

We'll see about that too after a while.

CF

[fishlady]

Re: White Sand Now W/PICS

.........looks really nice.......
that rock looks really familiar............ :!:

[Zulaab]

Re: White Sand Now W/PICS

CF -- how much ?
Depending on price -- can you have a bag ready by next week ?
I have a 70g that is going need some substrate... or potentially a 40g too... (we will see what I end doing with it.)

[CichlidFan]

Re: White Sand Now W/PICS

I'll be on vacation this coming week, and that may have a bearing on how soon the sand can be purchased. I'll keep you all posted.

CF

[eklikewhoa]

Re: White Sand Now W/PICS

So will the sand stay afloat long if stirred up? Like for cleanings and if one were to put cichlids in the tank which stir up substrate by mouth and when startled/pissed?

[fishlady]

Re: White Sand Now W/PICS

ek, this sand doesn't float at all......not like the reef sand that i've used before......and when it's stirred it seems to settle almost immediately according to steve....it's remarkable i may say myself.....very nice indeed....

[eklikewhoa]

Re: White Sand Now W/PICS

Sounds good!

maybe CF can get us a video of all the filters going and him grabbing a handful of sand and releasing it halfway in the tank or something.