Anyone use sand instead of gravel for a freshwater tank?

[Eileen]

I want to set a 55 gal. tank that looks like a saltwater tank. I like the look of sand or coral instead of white gravel. I was wondering if anyone has a sand bottom or a mix of sand and crushed coral. I looked at other forums and One person said to get play sand at Lowes or Homedepot. I want a community tank with mollies and guppies maybe catfish, Rasbora school. I add salt to my tank anyways for my molly. Would this sand setup be ok for my freshwater setup. Any help in this would be great. I' am switching out the filter that my tank came with a Bio System power filter & Oxy surface skimmer canister. It's the only power filter with a surface skimmer attached for a 55. gal its only $34.99. I bought it at DrsFosterSmith.com pet supply. I wanted a beter filter system for my new tank. Also how's many fish for a 55. gal can I keep safely without over crowding the tank dedending on size growth of fish.

[FordForever]

I asked this a while back and got the same response, play sand from lowes. I also know for a fact that catfish do not like salt, not even is small amounts.

[country_boy454]

I use sand in one and soon to be a second tank. I use sand blasting sand. Get 100lbs for $7 at the local fleet supply store. It all depends on what type of fish you will keep in the tank for how many you can have.

[KINGMED]

I have pool sand in my 29 gallon and 55 gallon tanks and love it. It cost around 10.00 for a 50 lb. bag, when I bought it I took one of my 5 gal. plastic buckets I bought from Walmart and put some sand in it and used the water hose outside to clean out the debree. It took me about an hr. to clean out the whole bag of sand where it would not cloud the water, I have aprox. 1 to 1 1/2 inches in my tanks, I think it is recommended to stir up the sand every so often to keep gas pockets from forming/like maybe every few months and then only one side of the tank 1 time and then the other side a week or so after. Pool sand to me looks awesome and is very good on the barbs of algae eaters and cory's, I myself am looking for a more natural looking habitate also when setting up a tank! I had Petsmart and another petstore tell me that it wouldn't be wise to put sand in my tanks, I asked them then what about the rivers and freshwater beaches that have sandy bottoms---they didn't have much to offer except it'd be better to put aquarium grave in it, Oh well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lakea]

I use pool filter sand, go it for about 10 bucks for 50 lbs and I only uses like have the bag on my 55g. I also used some in my 6.6g. I think it looks great.

[MandyL]

I use Target brand Play Sand. It's more of a tan colour though, not white if that's what you want. Just make sure that whatever you get, you rinse really well before using.

Crushed coral will raise the hardness and pH of your water. You will most likely not want this, depending on the pH of your water now.

I also agree with FordForever, you don't want to use salt with those fish and Mollies do not require it anyways.

[Devon Greatwolf]

Just made the switch to "Quickrete" play sand in two of my tanks and my fish seem vary pleased.

See discussion here: http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aqua...ad.php?t=22760

Free stocking of my sandy tanks please see my profile.

[Azear]

on my side, 80 pounds of fine white silica sandblasting sand... costed me 8$... in a 50g. The result is awesome but gotta rinse it very well. Other option is playsand for sure :P

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

I too have used playsand in my tanks. I love the look of it. It really makes a nice planting medium for live plants as well. I had something like 150lbs of Natural Playsand from Home Depot in a 125gal planted tank. That tank had all Asian fish, including Clown Loaches and a False Siamese Algae Eater and the sand didn't bother any of them at all.

As for the salt issue, you don't need it. In fact, you may be doing more harm than good. The need for salt has been bred out of the Mollies available in the hobby today. Unless you get a wild Molly you don't need to add any salt to their water. The key to keeping Mollies is giving them pristine water conditions, Mollies are not very tollerant of poor water conditions, adding salt to their water simply allows you to get away with not doing proper tank maintanance for them.

[Eileen]

Thank you everyone that gave me advice on the sand. Play sand it is. Post pictures of your set up with the sand bottom for everyone to see would be great. How many fish for a 55. gal tank was not answered?