Sand Substrate Setup

[Coop]

I had sand in my last setup and it was a little bit of a pain cleaning. I am looking to setup another tank soon and was curious if there is some sort of way to setup up a sand type substrate to where it is less work cleaning or some sort of way to set it up to make it easier on me. I thought about using the 3M stuff. I am looking to go with a black or white substrate. Any recommendations on how to setup and what type of substrate to use? I dont want to use rocks. Thanks.

[alexrex20]

Re: Sand Substrate Setup

i use sand from a creek down the road. it's a heavier silica sand, mixed of course with very small particles which stay suspended. four 5gal buckets usually ended up as two or three 5gal buckets of aquarium-ready sand. to clean it i just filled up a big cooler with it and ran the hose through it for a few hours, repositioning the hose every 15min or so. now all that's left are heavy particles (though still very fine grained) that sink quickly to the bottom.

but maybe you were asking about keeping the sand clean once it's in your tank? i only keep african cichlids which love to dig, so nothing really penetrates the substrate. i just hover over the surface with my siphon/vacuum to clean up the crap that's collected in the various spots with low circulation. either that, or i stick my arm in there and just swash it around to stir it up, letting the filters take care of it.

in my opinion, sand is one of the easiest substrates to keep clean. you just have to remember to mind your filters when you do a lot of remodeling or cleaning. if i'm stirring it up pretty good, i'll shut off my filters so as not to destroy the impellers (or clog the filters).

[Zulaab]

Re: Sand Substrate Setup

I use Leslie's pool filter sand.  I get the bag, pour it into the tank.  That is all the cleaning it needs.
I have used it so far in two tanks I have setup, and when the 110 gets setup sometime in Oct/Nov timeframe I am going to use it again.
I am like you.. dont want to clean sand so I get sand that is completely clean.  Leslie's pool filter sand is $9.49/50 lbs. -- two bags will cover your 48 x 18 base tanks with a deep layer.   (I used 75 lbs to cover mine)  I used 50 lbs to cover nicely a 36 x 18 base.

I am going to cover the 110 with a little more because I am going to have shell dwellers in the tank and I want them to have the extra sand to play in.

[alexrex20]

Re: Sand Substrate Setup

i just prefer the natural look of natural sand, naturally.