American Cichlid Association

Sand?

festaedan

festaedan

potamotrygon fan
I really enjoy the look of sand in my tanks and I want to switch a few of my tanks to sand. For my ray grow-out tank I payed $55 for the nice aquarium sand from congressional. The tanks Im planning on switching (in total) are 3 times as big as the tank I already switched and Im not about to pay $165 for sand that is under $20 at home depot. So what I want to know is which sand would be best for tanks with canisters and HOB's, wouldn't bee too sharp for when my ray buries himself, wouldn't be very fine, would be affordable, would look good, and would have zero chance of harming anything.
Thanks everyone
 
A

Ading522

Members
Pool filter sand is my choice of substrate.. I get line from Leslie's.. It has a brownish color with mixed grain size.. Looks natural under lighting and looks nice enough for me..

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Becca

Becca

Members
I like the stuff I got from Browning Pools in Damascus much better than what I got from the pool place in Gaithersburg.
 
jonclark96

jonclark96

Past CCA President
The play sand and other bagged products readily available at the big box home stores is usually REALLY dirty, with lots of fine particles. It takes a considerable amount of washing in my opinion. Pool filter sand can be used right out of the bag without any washing. I filled my 180 with PFS without even removing the fish. Unless you want to spend hours rinsing, go with the PFS or the expensive aquarium stuff.
 
cichlidaddicted

cichlidaddicted

Members
I just switched a tank and used quickcrete rinsed it in a bucket or about ten minutes and the it settled right away tank was clear in an hour. Pretty much just another brown tan sand color some specs of black in white mixed in. Might be a bit rough on a ray but the less rough it is the finer it has to be.

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D

DougGosnell

Members
I used 75# of Home Depot play sand in my fluidized sand bad filter and even in a "liquidified" state with new water flowing at ~7 gpm, it took a long time to get rid of the fines. Some had to be below 10 micron as well since some bypassed the mech filter cart even before that mess clogged it up. In the end, the stuff worked, though I retired that filter.
 
atmagoulick

atmagoulick

Members
Sand

festaedan said:
I really enjoy the look of sand in my tanks and I want to switch a few of my tanks to sand. For my ray grow-out tank I payed $55 for the nice aquarium sand from congressional. The tanks Im planning on switching (in total) are 3 times as big as the tank I already switched and Im not about to pay $165 for sand that is under $20 at home depot. So what I want to know is which sand would be best for tanks with canisters and HOB's, wouldn't bee too sharp for when my ray buries himself, wouldn't be very fine, would be affordable, would look good, and would have zero chance of harming anything.
Thanks everyone
Click to expand...

Hi,

I use the fine sand found at Home Depot. It is $3.00 for a 50 lbs bag. I think white sand is beautiful. It does not harm any filters or fish. The plants love it, when you mix in some laterite.

Best Regards,

Andy
 
Red Nose Rummy

Red Nose Rummy

Members
I found this product at my local pool supply shop and absolutely love it.

It's Pool Filter Sand called MYSTIC II and it's made by US Silica.

This sand is SUPER clean with no dust, it doesn't even require rinsing prior to installing and I never have any dust in my tanks when vaccuming the sand - none!

It's white, very, very white.... and it's inexpensive.

If you can find it, I think you will really like it.
 
npbarca

npbarca

Members
A trick I learned is if your tank gets cloudy after the sand is put in, run a sponge filter and stir up the sand every so often. I used the play sand from home depot and failed at washing it for my tanks, and the sponge filters cleared it up in about 4 days
 
Localzoo

Localzoo

Board of Directors
npbarca said:
A trick I learned is if your tank gets cloudy after the sand is put in, run a sponge filter and stir up the sand every so often. I used the play sand from home depot and failed at washing it for my tanks, and the sponge filters cleared it up in about 4 days
Click to expand...

But pull the sponge filter out ever so gently bc you could dislodge the fines from the sponge


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jonclark96

jonclark96

Past CCA President
Aquaclear makes an attachment that goes on their powerheads that can be set up with filter floss to make a quick filter. This works very well for clearing up water. Be careful running any pumps/filters while the water is clearing up as sand in the impeller could cause problems.
 
festaedan

festaedan

potamotrygon fan
Thanks everyone, I just picked up 100lbs of pfs at a local pool store. I just finished putting some in my 29 and tomorrow I'll put the rest in my 120.
Thanks again for all of the suggestions.
 
1

1badmarine

Guest
I ordered pool filter sand from Ace Hardware. $12.99 for a 50lbs bag.
 
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