• You liked BFD7 now you should join this forum and of course become a club member to see what CCA is all about.
  • Thank you to everyone who registered and showed up for the BIG Fish Deal #7.

I hate sand!

Lively

Lively

Members
Actually, I love the look of it and my JD's seem to like it better - and it is easier to clean - once the darn stuff settles. Just set up a new tank - bought play sand because the marine sand I like so much was too expensive!

It's not like this is the first time I've done sand - and it won't be the last - but dang! My tank is a big white cloud. I'd forgotten that no matter how well you rinse - it does this. It's like yesterdays fog... sigh.
 
maddog10

maddog10

Members
I rinse it good then put a plate in the tank when I fill. I fill really slow and the water stays fairly clear. If you fill fast, all it does is stir it up and make a mess.
 
Lively

Lively

Members
I poured the water in on a flat rock and did it slowly. I rinsed until it was clear and rinsed a bit more. I literally lost half the sand to rinsing. I was like muddy water on the first rinse - viscous like motor oil. I will never use play sand again!
 
F8LBITE

F8LBITE

Members
I learned my lesson with play sand too. Next time try pool filter sand, it settles really fast and its heavy so it sinks.
 
SubMariner

SubMariner

Master Jedi & Past VP
Give it 3-5 days for it to clear up and then that's it, your done. You might have to do a couple of water changes, but it's worth it.

It took my tank 7-9 days to clear up and it literally looked like a Desert storm for a while. I was mad as H..., but I got over it when I saw the end results.

A beautiful looking tank.;)

RM
 
Lively

Lively

Members
Like the avatar... is that your "mad as hell" one? lol

I know I'll be happy with it in the end - I am planning on dropping a second filter in the tank, that should help. Last time I did sand I used a seive and it took forever but next time, I'm going to do that again it worked a lot better.
 
Lively

Lively

Members
Starting to clear now - second filter is helping :)

I'm not overly thrilled with the sugar sand look - but I guess I'll get used to it.
 
Lively

Lively

Members
I've never had a problem with the sand in my impellers - that said, this is the first time I've used this kind. I swished the larger light ones out when I cleaned the sand what's left is so fine you can't make them out - just a fog.

I mucked it up again playing with the decor... lol
 
longstocking

longstocking

Members
black beauty :) If you want black sand...

no rinsing.... cloudy for an hour.

My fav. was when bill came home and said "honey do you have any need for a TON of bleached pre-washed beach sand" That was freakn fantastic!!! I brought some to the meeting... everyone laughed at me but Ron and Andrew.... they knew what a pain washing sand is lol

I don't know where he got the pre-washed stuff.... I wish I could get some again.
 
UNCLERUCKUS

UNCLERUCKUS

"THE ALL POWERFUL Q !!
Cartel said:
My next tank is def going to be sand. But how does everyone go about cleaning it?
Click to expand...
just take a python and go across the top to get it clean then run it through the sand to get missed/trapped dirt and release any unwanted gasses.;)
 
danger_chicken

danger_chicken

Swim Fishy Swim!
I dump a 50lb bag into a 5gal bucket the push a garden hose to the bottom and let it run for about 10-15 minutes (moving the hose around every few minutes). That clears out all the dust and debris.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top