Pool Filter Sand vs. plecos

[Jefft]

Alright ya'll for the since starting my tanks I have only put sand in one and it was a nightmare. The stuff was too fine and kept the water cloudy as it wouldnt settle got in the filter and then would work its way back through the coarse sponges of the filters and right back into the water to cloud it up again. I have been reading how much you all love sand in many posts so I went out and bought a 50 lbs. bag of pool filter sand as peer "Reel Addiction"- Chris' suggestion he offered when I first met him. This sand is a silicone based sand as I understand it and it is coarse enough to sink and settle on the bottom. I put it in a 10 gallon first to make sure. I am fairly confident this stuff will settle and not float on the currents in the tank, thus not too worried about cloudy water issues. However, The 10 gallon tank I tried it in doesn't have any plecos, the rest of the tanks all have plecos. I see my plecos on the bottom of my tanks all the time, more time on the bottom than on the walls or other things in the tank. Obviously they are sucking on the coral rocks yes? Is there any health issues for them from pool filter sand? Are there any dangers in sucking up silicone based sand for the plecos if I put it in the tanks they are in?

 

[Andrewtfw]

You are definitely not the first person keeping plecos in a tank with a sand substrate. I would not worry about it. If they do consume some sand, it will be minimal and should not pose a problem.

 

[Jefft]

Yeah, ok but again this is pool filter sand, silicone based not a regular crushed rock or regular sand. So this is like what fake manufactured sand?

 

[chriscoli]

Pool filter sand is silica-based (not silicone...different stuff). Much of the natural sand in the world is made out of silica. I haven't heard that pool filter sand was artificial...I think the reason that they emphasize that it's silica sand is to say that it's inert and won't chemically react with the pool water. Does anyone else know otherwise?

I have plecos in the tanks that I have pool filter sand in and they do just fine.

 

[Jefft]

Another question. In the 10 gallon I just put it in, I pulled the pebbled substrate out of the tank sucked up as my much nastiness as I could before replacing old substrate with the pool filter sand. I was planning on putting this sand shallowly over the coral pebbles in the bottoms of the rest of the tanks. Will this be an issue? Do I need to shovel out all substrate or is it ok to have a thin layer of the pool filter sand over existing substrate?

 

[Jefft]

OK chriscoli that sounds good and what I needed to hear.. I am comforted that you have plecos in your tanks on pool filter sand and dont have issues. I feel a lot better about it now.

 

[mchambers]

Yup

Pool filter sand is silica-based (not silicone...different stuff). Much of the natural sand in the world is made out of silica. I haven't heard that pool filter sand was artificial...I think the reason that they emphasize that it's silica sand is to say that it's inert and won't chemically react with the pool water. Does anyone else know otherwise?

I have plecos in the tanks that I have pool filter sand in and they do just fine.

What she said.

 

[Jefft]

OK existing question is still outstanding.... I was planning on putting this sand shallowly over the coral pebbles in the bottoms of the rest of the tanks. Will this be an issue? Do I need to shovel out all substrate or is it ok to have a thin layer of the pool filter sand over existing substrate?

 

[mchambers]

In my experience, the sand will sink to the bottom, and the pebbles will be on the top of the substrate. If you don't mind that, then I don't think it's a problem. Are you trying to raise the ph and hardness by using coral?

 

[Andrewtfw]

Smaller substrate (sand) will find its way to the bottom, below larger substrate. Your coral substrate would have to be rather large (or your sand bed extremely shallow) for the coral to be above the sand.

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[Avatar]

Most any sand will do - only real difference is grit size.

Silicon is the most abundant element in the Earth's crust. In it's oxidized form it is also referred to as silica and includes sand and quartz, and yes, most glass. Fact is that it is very hard to find "sand" that is not silica/silicon-based apart from industrial slag that has been pulverized and bagged. For our purposes silica is basically inert, but when very fine can be inhaled and cause no end of health problems, which makes me wonder who the idiots are that are selling "play sand" that is far too fine and dusty to be anything that kids should play in and/or be exposed to - it's pretty but is really too light/buoyant to be good for general aquarium use..

 

[Jefft]

hmmm I was thinking put enough sand on top and it would stay above the pebbled substrate.. I guess its not like dry land huh? ok so to get the sand to stay on top I need to pull the coral and shell substrate out and then just lay in the sand yes? lay in a little of the pebble and shell to give the bottom a little more zip than just the sand?

 

[Jefft]

Andrew probably idiots like me who dont know any better. But what you have said makes total sense.

 

[Jefft]

ok so to get the sand to stay on top I need to pull the coral pebbles and shell substrate out and then just lay in the sand yes?

 

[Andrewtfw]

ok so to get the sand to stay on top I need to pull the coral pebbles and shell substrate out and then just lay in the sand yes?

The sand will find its way to the bottom on its own. I would leave the coral/pebble and pour the sand over it. This reduces dead spots and looks more natural imo. You could slope the coral front to back and then add the sand. That might give a natural looking sense of depth. Whatever you do, post pics.

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