help with sand

[angela]

hello people
iam so mad right now......
after put salt in my tank i put the play sand in it
and is brown as it can be... some one tell me i can use play sand so i went to home depot and brought quikrete play sand now iam scare to just looking at my tank i have 55g i put 50pound of sand in it
have any one use play sand befor ?
as i say i got scare and take mose of the sand out of my tank anyway i still dont like the color of my water
iam thinking of change all over (new water , new salt)
please help ASAP

 

[1979camaro]

first, mad is bad...sw takes great patience; without that you will not succeed. Was the sand brown when you put it in? there isnt really a reason it would turn brown unless it was brown or the water was brown so that seems a little odd to me...there is nothing else in the tank except sand and water? did you wash the sand first? perhaps it was a little dirty and needed washed?

 

[aresgod]

i agree if you want to use it, first rule wash substrate....., second i have a great supplier for LIVE sand that is remarkably cheap, he will ship it to your door for about 1.40$ per pound, it is great stuff, i just ordered some more. If you are interested in the live sand just respond so in this post and i will leave his email and contact info

 

[angela]

sand was brown befor i put in my tank but after put the sand my filter stop runing so i have to take both of my tilteration out. i know the water is going to be brown but not like that durty......
so i take all the water out and redo the tank
i think iam going to use crushed coral.....oh they tell me not to wash the sand they say let it cure it self i dont know????????
if you know anyone sell crushed coral for good price
please let me know.

 

[1979camaro]

"oh they tell me not to wash the sand they say let it cure it self i dont know????????"

who is they?

if it was brown before you put it in, why did you put it in, there is no reason to expect it to be not brown....

the filter is probably full of pieces of sand, especially if you put the sand in after water which is what it sounds like you did...you will most likely need to clean it

what kind of filter is this anyway?

LS is really a much better choice than crushed coral if you can get it cheap...but it will be seeded by the LR so it probably isnt too big a deal either way...

i think you need to research some more

 

[angela]

iam useing bio power330 i have two of them
you say who is they? they are from saltwaterfish.com
what is LS or LR? also LFS tell me not to use sand also
i brought a book by BRARRON'S-THE SALTWATER AQUARIUM HANDBOOK and OTHER BOOK IS MARINE REEF
AQUARIUM HANDBOOk BY BRARRON'S(Dr robert j. gldstein

thing is iam o,k with sand but i think i got the worng kind
it's very dirty alot of stuff was flowiing aroud insid the water the name of the sand is QUIKRETE play sand

i filled with water first then i add salt day after i add the sand

 

[catfisharecool]

I think that QUIKRETE is concrete, hence the word crete in it. What color was the bag? I know quikrete comes is a yellow paper bag. If it is, congratulations! You now have a permenant bottom landscape! No more maintenance. Gravel vacuuming will be a snap! If it is concrete, you made a horrible(ly funny) mistake. hahaha

Jordan

 

[aresgod]

haha that would be terrible if it is concrete, dont listen about the not using sand thing, just use the right kind, dont try to cut corners, buy some good live sand= LS, LR= live rock , they will both speed up your cycling process, i suggest you throw out all of the sand/concrete if you can, clean your tank thourougly and buy some aquarium sand available @ your LFS, or if you are interested buy live sand, either way, i wouldnt suggest usign regular sand, it is meant for different things, i think it would just end up making mud rather than the sand that is approriate for an aquarium,
Brahm

 

[phantomfe3]

*shakes head*


i too used the play sand from home depot, all you gotta do is wait for about a day and a half and it settles down. clean the filter and keep that running. your gonna need alot more patience than that if your gonna be running with saltwater. oh and 1.40 per pound is alot considering that that play sand was like 3 bucks for 50 pounds.

youll have better luck with sand in the long run IMO. crushed coral can give you problems with different levels in the tank and just be a neusance, i would stay with the sand, and it is sand, not concrete! quikcrete is just the company that makes it. just wait a day or two and it will settle down and youll have clear water

 

[angela]

Originally posted by aresgod
ha ha you funny Quikrete is name of the company
but i get what you saying
i clean my tank , i take all the sand out and redo the tank with just salt it in
Q: 55g tank and i use 50pound of salt reading of salt
hydrometer is 1.028 i don't understan
LFS tell me i should use 55pound of salt on my tank
first time i did and the reading was 1.032 i take some water out and redo the reading and was 1.026 i take some more water out and put more water in it and reding was 1.025-1.024.................

i don't understan. this time i use less salt but still reding is too "H" why is that?
*thumbsdow

 

[1979camaro]

umm...i dont know why you posted this four times, but you probably don't want to just mindlessly believe the LFS or the bag...it is important to mix slowly...it is easy to add more salt but much harder to take it out...


as for the filter, that isn't going to get the job done...you need a skimmer before you add fish/inverts

personally, i dont think using the sand you have is a problem...you just should have washed it first...its fairly standard procedure for any substrate you add to a FW or SW tank...........

 

[angela]

Originally posted by 1979camaro
umm...i dont know why you posted this four times, but you probably don't want to just mindlessly believe the LFS or the bag...it is important to mix slowly...it is easy to add more salt but much harder to take it out...


as for the filter, that isn't going to get the job done...you need a skimmer before you add fish/inverts

personally, i dont think using the sand you have is a problem...you just should have washed it first...its fairly standard procedure for any substrate you add to a FW or SW tank...........

i dont know why it posted 4 time i only did that 1.
sorry i dont have any idea
for the skimmer any good name that you know of?

 

[dbacksrat]

ok sorry to not be of any help what so ever, but using concrete instead of sand would be hilarious--u would have posted a pic, right?
i tried mixing salt for the first time the other day and it was a nightmare--u just gotta do it slowly and carefully until u get the hang of it....

 

[angela]

[ha ha ha ha yes i know i mix the salt on 06-8-04 and it's 1.023 so iam happy as i see you say you need 240.00
i think it's going to cost more then that
the light that iam going to get 329.00+tx proten 229+tx
live rock 8.99Pound so iam looing at aroud 800.00 more remamber the fish iam going to buy so only thing is going on my mine is $ $ $ $

 

[Navyblue]

Originally posted by angela
hello people
after put salt in my tank i put the play sand in it
and is brown as it can be...

Well you you describe it as "brown" it is not as bad as mine

When I wash my sand, the water for the first round is OPAQUE BLACK with black foam and look like skimmate, unfortunately I don't have a picture of that (imagine a whole big tub of skimmate looking stuufs)

 

[Joe Fish]

I've read all over that this play sand called soutdown or southland will work great. My home depot doesn't carry it. I've already read that a certain brand of quikrete premium sand will work too. I have 30lbs of aragonite reef sand, 20 lbs of aragalive, and 5 lbs of marine while sand. If I mix in like 30lbs of this play sand will that that much of an issue?

 

[RockingCricket]

I wonder what a tank with a concrete bottom would look like? Might be okay once it's covered with algae?

Playsand from Home Depot is fine btw. I used 2 bags of HD playsand and one 30lb bag of crushed coral to create a DSB.

If you're replacing your substrate consider using the silica sand which HD sells. It is about the same price, is finer, and is whiter too. Some people avoid it thinking that it will increase silicates in the water, but sand isn't soluble so as long as you rinse it well first, you'll be fine.

I hope you didn't use tap water to fill your tank, but I have a sneaking suspicion you might have.

 

[Joe Fish]

Yes, your suspicion is correct. I wonder how much a gallon of water is at the store?

EDIT: I was planning on doing my water changes with store bought water until I can afford a RO unit.

 

[RockingCricket]

Sorry Joe, my suspicions were about Angela with the brown sand, but if you used tap water too it's no real biggie. I did too when I filled my 90. It caused a big diatom bloom but those are easy enough to remedy once you've switched to RO waterchanges.

Can I ask where do you live Joe, cos surely you can find a water outlet somewhere nearby. There are loads of companys that are willing to deliver drinking water. Maybe a quick flick through your yellow pages will have some results.

I know of 5 different sources in my local town (2 of which are even in the same shopping complex) which have vending machines for RO water. They range from $1.00 to $1.50 for 5 gallons.

 

[Joe Fish]

1 to 1.50 for 5 gallons??? I don't know what I was doing using tap water then. I live in beautiful Fairview, Pa. 2mi from Lake Erie. I really don't know what diatoms are, but I guess i'm going to find out. I just did a water test on my LR that is curing and the Nitrite is 0, and I'm waiting on my ammonia test now. Then I can put them in my tank. Then I can add the substrate. Then after about a month or two I can add my fishies.