What type of sand

[amishfignewton]

I am setting up a firemouth tank, and I want to use sand as a substrate. I work at a hardware store and I have sandblasting sand and playground sand (made for sandboxes) do you think I could use either of these (as they would be super cheap for me), from my reading they would just cloud the water a bit at first right, but should be safe for the fishes.

or should I just get some laterite? OR if I was to goto the LFS, what brand/name am I looking for when I buy the sand, since at my LFS I am like the "betta breeder guy" and I would look like a fool if I asked them for the wrong sand lol *crazysmil

 

[lightning]

i got sand that is used for swimming pool filters, its great, the fish love it, its not to small to stay stired up in the tank all the time but yet its still small enough for the fish to move it around like they love to do

 

[wayne]

Try to get a pretty coarse, round grained silica sand. Coarse so it doesn't blow around, roundso it doesn't cut or abrade fishes mouths and silica won't dissolve or react with the water to raise pH. Acid test will differentiate silica from calcium carbonate sands, though for firemouths it's not too critical a problem

 

[Riss]

I have gravel at the moment but would also like to switch to sand. But wouldn't sand be very hard to clean?? WOuldn't it just get sucked up the syphon??

 

[jkulysses]

Originally posted by Riss
I have gravel at the moment but would also like to switch to sand. But wouldn't sand be very hard to clean?? WOuldn't it just get sucked up the syphon??

You don't clean it like you do gravel. All the poop and stuff pretty much just sits on top of the sand so all you got to do is skim the surface of the sand with the python or whatever you use. You just have to be more careful so that you don't suck up the sand.

Jake

 

[wayne]

I agree with jake - I've just changed a tank to make my life easier. I've got a feeling the size of most 'aquarium gravel' is a hangover from when UG filters were king.

 

[Flex26]

So, what kind of sand did you guys get for your tanks? Do you have any recommendations? Wayne's explaination was kinda technical for me. I'm just a newbie at this....

 

[tlfphoto]

Sand

Use the sandblasting sand its what I use. Lopk for my name in rate my tank to see what it looks like.

 

[tlfphoto]

Sand

Use the sandblasting sand its what I use. Look for my name in rate my tank to see what it looks like.

 

[Flex26]

Nice tank, tlfphoto!! And thanks for the advice. How much sand should I use for a 20 gallon? Is it similar to the gravel: 1 pound per gallon?

 

[tlfphoto]

how much

sandblasting sand comes in 100lbs bags so just do 2 to 3 inches.

 

[Jawz]

hhmm i went to home depot and got "decorative" silica sand, 60lbs for $6 CND, and on my 35 gallon tank its about 1-2 inches deep. I got it cuz the colour was ligther and looked better. Alot, and i mean ALOT of saltwater ppl use Southdown sand, its highly recommended by them, but kinda hard to find in certain areas. or Quickrete is also another popular name brand used by saltwater ppl, i kno its a freshwater tank but u kno sand is sand