Show of your play sand substrate

[lava]

Hey guys If you got some spare time on your hands plz take some pics of your play sand and show some? I am trying to figure out how gray play sand would look like once it is submerged Thanks!

[wolf_eyes]

Well here's my 10g
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[lava]

Thanks wolf eyes. What was the color of the sand when you opened the bag? and did it get brighter once you placed it under water? or get darker?

[wolf_eyes]

The bag's sand was darker and more reddish looking than what is in the tank. It seemed to be brighter when we put it in.

The thing with playsand is you have to clean it before you put it into a tank. This consists of putting it into a bucket, about 1-2 gallons in a 3 gallon bucket or so. You get a hose with a nozzle and spray it into the bucket. The dust will float and overflow out of the bucket as you spray, and continue doing that until you start getting clear water in the bucket. When that happens you can either toss it into the aquarium or put it into a clean trash bag and repeat the process with some sand from the store bought bag. It may seem like a pain but it makes the tank cleaner and its worth the effort imo.

[Heliwyr]

I would say it's more reddish in Georgia because it could have come in contact with the red clay dust here. Elsewhere it might be more grey because the soil/clay is a grayer tone. Which is why you need to wash playsand as it's usually covered in a thick layer of clay dust.

[PostalPenguin]

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Home Depot Quickcrete playsand, its a little washed out but its yellower than in the picture.

[lava]

Awesome thanks for the information. Btw I thought quickrete was bad?

[PostalPenguin]

I didn't have any problems. There is two types of Quickcrete sand that I saw in the store. One was for putting under patio stones and stuff like that. The playsand was right next to it and said "Playsand" for sand boxes etc on it. I think the playsand has been washed a few more times while the other stuff has a lot more crud in it. I still washed mine for about 45 minutes in a 5 gallon bucket in the bathtub. After filling the aquarium I just let it sit for a few hours changed the water and it was good to go.

[Z Fish Man]

The sand looks very nice and I'm sure is a much cheaper way to go espeacially for a bigger tank. It seems your guy's plants grow well in it even though I assume sand doesn't have much nutrients in it. Do you guys use plant fertilizer then?

[btate617]

This is sand from Rona.

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This is from Home Depot.

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Both are sold as play sand. I like the look of the stuff from Home Depot, but the Rona sand is a little heavier making it easier when cleaning the tank, you don't suck up as much.

Brian

[bushwhacker]

this is my 75 just finished today waiting for it to clear up quickcrete playsand loads of rinsing but so far so good
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[Lady Hobbs]

I changed from gravel to play sand in this tank exactly 3 hours ago.

Furthermore, I don't wash the sand. I put the fish in a bucket, when I was draining the tank, I poured in the playsand right out of the bag and finished draining the tank. Refilled tank and turned the filters on.

[Algenco]

I changed from gravel to play sand in this tank exactly 3 hours ago.

Furthermore, I don't wash the sand. I put the fish in a bucket, when I was draining the tank, I poured in the playsand right out of the bag and finished draining the tank. Refilled tank and turned the filters on.


What!! No Shultz Aqua soil?

[Lady Hobbs]

Can't have what ya can't get.

[PostalPenguin]

The sand looks very nice and I'm sure is a much cheaper way to go espeacially for a bigger tank. It seems your guy's plants grow well in it even though I assume sand doesn't have much nutrients in it. Do you guys use plant fertilizer then?

I use FlourinMulti liquid fertilizer weekly. I should probably use tabs for my sword plant but they are growing quite fast without them. The larger sword plant is growing at the rate of about a new leaf every two days. The anacharis grows about an inch to two inches every two days.

[wolf_eyes]

I used plant gro with lead weekly and then some flourish root tabs for plants that were root feeders. I also had a 2wpg lighting

[bushwhacker]

I used plant gro with lead weekly and then some flourish root tabs for plants that were root feeders. I also had a 2wpg lighting

with lead? i cant imagine any ferts with lead in it are you sure you dont mean iron?

[Lady Hobbs]

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