Recommendations for sand?

[larryl]

Hi all -

I'm thinking of rebooting my current tank and replacing the gravel with sand that I hope will be a better substrate for my A. agassizii and some dwarf corys. Does anyone have any recommendations of specific sand I should buy, or at least characteristics to look for?


Thanks!
Larry

 

[TCMontium]

My preference has been JBL Sansibar White, but other white/yellowish sands with almost dust sized (well, many not THAT small, but less than a millimeter of diameter) particles should be fine too.
The sand shouldn't be bubbling when it makes contact with strong acids. You can test that by dropping a few drops of a "pH drop" product or toilet bowl cleaner (maybe vinegar will work too, but I'm not sure if it is strong enough) on a small amount of sand that you are ready to wash and throw/flush away after the test.
I don't know if color of the sand if important for Apistogramma health as size of the particles is. I used JBL Sansibar Orange and it had so much more "color dust" than the white that it was a real torture to wash the sand. White required 6-8 washes to be "clean" and orange sand still released a considerable amount of "color dust" into the water after 30 washes. I put both into the aquariums and while the white sand made the water murky (without any running filters) for a day or less, the orange made it murky for approx. a week.

 

[larryl]

Thanks @TCMontium, that is very useful information. I searched around and it looks like the JBL products are available in the UK or Europe but I am not finding anyone in the USA who has them. By any chance do you know of another product that is similar that I might be able to find in the USA?

Also, how deep do you make the sand?


Thanks!
Larry

 

[doinkmobb]

I use pool filter sand in my tanks, it's cheap, non-reactive, clean and uniform in size. It just works.
With a really fine sand, you run the chance of a deep bed compacting and trapping organic material which rots. Pool filter sand has less tendency to compact, but I still stir it up once in a while. My personal experience with a fine sand (play sand from home depot), is that one inch was enough to become rotten and gross. I have up to three inches in my 75 gallon, with no ill effects.

 

[ButtNekkid]

Hi,

My vote goes to pool filter sand also. Chemically inert to some extent and no need to rinse before use.

 

[yukondog]

I use filter sand also and have seen no problems.

 

[larryl]

Thanks for all the advice everyone.

 

[Norman Fenske]

I wanted to get Pool Filter Sand but none of the local Home Depot and Lowes stores had it so I went with play sand ( on the packaging it said it had no chemicals added ). I will admit its a real pain to clean it and even after 20 minutes of washing it it still turned the water slightly cloudy but after 1 day it was clear. I also used a make shift filter to help with the cloudiness. I take a power head and get a 16oz drionk bottle cut the bottom off attach where you drink to the power head stuff the bottle with polyfill within a day tank will be clear.

 

[Norman Fenske]

Well I made a slight mistake yes the play sand I bought from Lowes was cheap 4.00 for a 50lb bag and yes it took a lot of cleaning to get is reasonably clear however I found a hardware store that carries pool filter sand 9.00 for a 50lb bag. Big difference I set up a 20 long and used the Pool filter sand straight out of the bag added water plants etc yes there is some cloudiness but considering I added the sand and water this morning and its almost 9 hours later the water is almost crystal clear I am impressed. Wish I started with this sand from the start now I will use for future tanks but I am not going to redo all the other tanks that have just the play sand too much work.

 

[Daneland]

Well I made a slight mistake yes the play sand I bought from Lowes was cheap 4.00 for a 50lb bag and yes it took a lot of cleaning to get is reasonably clear however I found a hardware store that carries pool filter sand 9.00 for a 50lb bag. Big difference I set up a 20 long and used the Pool filter sand straight out of the bag added water plants etc yes there is some cloudiness but considering I added the sand and water this morning and its almost 9 hours later the water is almost crystal clear I am impressed. Wish I started with this sand from the start now I will use for future tanks but I am not going to redo all the other tanks that have just the play sand too much work.

Play sand is a pain to clean. Pools filter sand was too expensive for me to order online due to weight and I could not find it locally. So I used play sand, it is safe, it has to be safe enough for children; in the end some kid eat it. For compacting Malaysian Trumpet snails are good as they actively dig substrate.

 

[Aquaman074]

You could get Pool Sand at Leslie's Pool or any local pool supplies stores