sand bottom....

[Gelo_USA]

I have been thinking about changing from gravel to sand since hobbs changed her tank.......
can I use calci sand?

[cocoa_pleco]

calcium sand is hard calcium wise. Dunno if you can use it.

Hardware stores often have play sand cheap. I found 25KG for 5$. You can use this as long as you wash it good to get rid of tiny particles

[holbritter]

You can also go to a pool supply store and get some of their pool filter sand. It's a silica sand and I got a 50lb bag for $6.50

Also needs rinsing :)

[TehTANK]

I posted some sweet instructions on how to change things out from Gravel to Sand.....Just to let you know. I am going to be doing this myself real soon!

[Abbeys_Mom]

You can also go to a pool supply store and get some of their pool filter sand. It's a silica sand and I got a 50lb bag for $6.50

Also needs rinsing :)

Silica sand may lead to brown algae problems.

[Fishguy2727]

Almost all sands are silica based, except for crushed calcium type sands (crushed coral, crushed aragonite, etc). Estes' Marine sand is silica, but actually has a coating on it, so it is chemically inert. I personally would not go with play sand or other sands not meant for aquariums. Aquarium sand is not that expensive and is definitely safe for fish. Although it does not need to be rinsed, Estes' marine sand needs to be presoaked so that it sinks.

[cocoa_pleco]

With the playsand, ive read mixed comments. some say its great, and it wont harm fishes eyes if you rinse it well, others say its harmful no matter what.

Stores sell GEOSYSTEM sand that is completely safe for fish thats worth giving a look at

[xoolooxunny]

a good way to rinse play sand, if you decide to use it, is in a pillow case, helps rinse out the tiny particles. After that, what i did was dump water in the tank, let it settle for 1 minute, then sucked the water out. redid it over and over again until when i dumped water in everything settled within a minute, which means i got all the tiny stuff out that likes to float around. Everything settles right away if i disturb it.

[Gelo_USA]

I posted some sweet instructions on how to change things out from Gravel to Sand.....Just to let you know. I am going to be doing this myself real soon!
I saw it already somewhere
thanks

[Gelo_USA]

good technique xoolooxunny makes sense
tht way u make sure tht u removed all the small particles
what if I use DIRTY? what kind should I use?

[xoolooxunny]

good technique xoolooxunny makes sense
tht way u make sure tht u removed all the small particles
what if I use DIRTY? what kind should I use?

sorry if this is a stupid question, but what do you mean by DIRTY? is it a brand?

[cocoa_pleco]

LOL, yeah, whats DIRTY? :1:

[Gelo_USA]

OOPSSSS....
I meant DIRT... sorry.... LOL

[cocoa_pleco]

dirts not really a good idea.


I didnt want regular gravel in one of my 20g's, so i bought some geosystem tan colored rock chips that are cool.