Recent content by HazMatt

After digging my hands through it for over an hour while rinsing it, I'd say it's pretty darn smooth.

I guess this is where we will disagree. I want a dark substrate and I like this mix. I will be using loads of driftwood, live plants and slate to add a bit of a natural look. Now, if I could find a dark sand mix of natural colors, like those that can be found in gravel mixes, I may change it...

And, you can buy a 4 pack of the cheap ones with prime 2 day delivery for the price of the first one I linked. I mixed a few handfuls of the black and blue sand together, with the same two parts black/one part blue. I really like the look in this glass.

This one is less expensive https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FMRD7FB/?tag=ff0d01-20

@Byron Good call. I'll mix a small batch to see how it looks before mixing the whole thing together. Also, quite a while back, you told me about some sponge filters at Amazon. Have you seen these sponge filters yet? They have cups below the sponges to hold bio balls. Interesting concept and...

@cowgirluntamed I don't consider that hijacking. I like seeing other people's setups. One day I hope to have that much greenery in my tank.

Oh, and the LFS has a special on driftwood, everything is $10 each. There are all fairly simple pieces but, even the 14-18 inch pieces, of manzanita, in their display tanks are for sale. A few of these pieces have been in the tanks for many years and are covered in algae. I'm thinking about...

Today I hit the local petco, petsmart, and the local mom and pop LFS and bought all the black aquarium sand in my county, 50lbs total. Not exactly enough but, the LFS also had 25lbs of dark blue sand. So, I also bought all the dark blue sand in my county. I think that mix will give me a nice...

Well poop. I guess quikrete stopped making the dark grey play sand, at least it's not available around here. I've been checking ebay for driftwood. It can be quite expensive especially when you want pieces 2-3 feet long. I might use the darkest natural sand I can find at the local...

Thank you, again.

Aside from scrubbing and boiling driftwood that I find, are there any other safety precautions I need to know about using found driftwood in my aquarium?

Shopping list for Home Depot tomorrow: -Grey playground sand, 50 lb bags X 2 (or one 50 lb bag and mix in about 20 lbs of inert black aquarium sand) -5 gallon buckets X 2 -25 ft Garden hose -Adjustable garden hose nozzle -Clear pvc pipe, 3 inch diameter, 2 ft (the tank I bought came with a...

I looked around at a local landscaping yard for river rocks. When I mentioned this to my friend, he warned me that some rocks can affect the alkalinity of the tank and sent me to YouTube to find out how to test rocks for safety... Now I have a gallon of muriatic acid, lol. That's the only...

I was afraid blasting sand would be too coarse. I'll check home depot tomorrow for the grey sand. My local Lowes only had beige sand. Buying black sand from pet stores is expensive and I'd probably have to buy every available bag in my county to fill 2 inches of my tank.