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Sand... Gravel... Other...?

Fishn'

Fishn'

CCA Members
I know this is a topic talked about frequently, so I thought I would bring it up yet again.

I currently use sand. My questions:

Has anyone run into problems with long term use of sand?
Has anyone gone back to gravel after using sand? If so, why?
Has anyone tried play sand, specifically the Quickrite brand?
If you don't use sand or gravel (BBT's not included), what do you use?

I like the texture of sand and it seems much more natural for South American/Amazonian fish.

Curious about others opinions.
 
bossanova

bossanova

Members
Fishn' said:
I know this is a topic talked about frequently, so I thought I would bring it up yet again.

I currently use sand. My questions:

Has anyone run into problems with long term use of sand?
Has anyone gone back to gravel after using sand? If so, why?
Has anyone tried play sand, specifically the Quickrite brand?
If you don't use sand or gravel (BBT's not included), what do you use?

I like the texture of sand and it seems much more natural for South American/Amazonian fish.

Curious about others opinions.
Click to expand...
Sand only for me. HTH pool filter sand from Ace, 12.99 for 50lb bag ftw!
 
CSnyder00

CSnyder00

Bearded Wonder
Fishn' said:
I know this is a topic talked about frequently, so I thought I would bring it up yet again.

I currently use sand. My questions:

Has anyone run into problems with long term use of sand?

Has anyone tried play sand, specifically the Quickrite brand?
.
Click to expand...

I use the Quickrite natural play sand in my tanks with no issues. I've had sand in tanks for years at a time. No issues if you stir it from time to time. You will get air bubbles from decaying stuff, so you have to stir it all the way to the bottom once in a while. Other than that, I can't say I would ever go back to gravel. Sand is natural for a ton of fish. I've used pool filter sand, but it's too coarse for some fish. Stick with play sand. Cheap, easy (after a ton of rinsing) and the fish love it.
 
jonclark96

jonclark96

Past CCA President
Pool filter sand is my go to. I have a couple of tanks with sand marketed toward the hobby (Caribesea and similar vendors). It looks about the same as the PFS, but I'm not all that concerned with aquascaping, to be honest. I tried play sand once, but the rinsing was way too much for me to want to mess with. I spent half an hour cleaning sand for a 5 gallon tank. No way I was going through that when putting sand in a 180!

I have found that the brand name sand that is finer seems to get into filters more readily, but ultimately is less of an issue with damaging impellers. My HOBs with Caribsea often have sand in the bottom of the filter compartment, but I haven't had any issues on that tank with the impellers getting damaged. Now, in the tanks with larger Central American cichlids that love digging, and subsequently spitting sand towards the filter intakes, a big grain of PFS can get in the impeller and cause them to wear out faster.

I have removed gravel from all but one or two of may tanks at this point.
 
CSnyder00

CSnyder00

Bearded Wonder
jonclark96 said:
Pool filter sand is my go to. I have a couple of tanks with sand marketed...
Click to expand...

While I don't disagree with Jon that rinsing is a royal pain, I rinsed my pool filter sand and rinsed the Nat Geo sand, then Cichlid sand, and a few others. What I found is that the more you rinse ANY of them, the less you get in the filter. This is because the lighter particles will float out during rinsing. Now, I am very picky and I understand you don't have to rinse most of them. However, I do for peace of mind and ease of install.

Also, as I mentioned above, the finer particles in play sand are key for cories and other fish that filter the sand through their gills. The pool filter sand that I've seen is much larger and they cannot sift it the same way as they can the play sand. Natural behavior = Happy fish.
 
Beanie Seagus

Beanie Seagus

Members
I use mostly play sand. It does need to be rinsed, but you can beat the price and the fish really seem to enjoy it, I have a lot of species that like to sift through it for extra bits of food.
 
A

abcdefghi

Members
I am using black diamond blasting sand in my current tank, love it. The fish are happy (the cories like to try and dig up root tabs), the plants are growing like weeds and best of all it needed almost 0 rinsing. In fact, I did not rinse it at all. Filled the tank then used paper towels to absorb the residue off the top of the water.

Bearing in mind this was a tank with no fish in it, I likely would have at least rinsed it some if the fish were already in the tank.
 
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