Freshwater Aquarium Sand

[shleppy1372]

what is the best and cheapest sand too buy for my freshwater tank? and can you buy it at lowes?

 

[awilson360]

what is the best and cheapest sand too buy for my freshwater tank? and can you buy it at lowes?

Argos Play Sand is great at £2.99. I found it to settle a bit quicker than the cheaper sand from Pet Stores and with 15kg I managed to do about 4 square feet.

AW

 

[fluffycabbage]

i second the argos playsand too-just make sure you rinse it 3 or 4 times before putting in the tank!

 

[Teephphah]

From what I've seen, this forum is primarily populated by UK residents, and I'm not sure they have Lowe's on the other side of the pond. From this, I'm guessing you're in the US (or at least in North America).

Assuming I'm correct at all, I'll tell you that I've checked all of the big three DIY warehouse stores and the best stuff I've found was at Menards. They've got a fine white play sand there that I haven't been able to find anywhere else. Both Lowe's and Home Depot's "play" or "landscaping" sand are much more coarse and gravel-ish and the color is nothing to get too excited about.

So, if you have one nearby, I'd suggest looking through the garden/landscaping area at your local Menards.

 

[SuperColey1]

From what I've seen, this forum is primarily populated by UK residents, and I'm not sure they have Lowe's on the other side of the pond. From this, I'm guessing you're in the US (or at least in North America).

Assuming I'm correct at all, I'll tell you that I've checked all of the big three DIY warehouse stores and the best stuff I've found was at Menards. They've got a fine white play sand there that I haven't been able to find anywhere else. Both Lowe's and Home Depot's "play" or "landscaping" sand are much more coarse and gravel-ish and the color is nothing to get too excited about.

So, if you have one nearby, I'd suggest looking through the garden/landscaping area at your local Menards.

Playsand over here looks pretty brown in colour, until it gets under flourescent lighting and under water it looks white

i.e. from this (on the right of the picture. the left is tropica substrate):

To this (a couple of hours later) ;

These 2 pics are 'play sand' from a garden centre. The scape previous was play sand from Argos and it looked pretty similar to me

Tesco, Asda etc all sell it too.

AC

 

[gearhead65]

Got my sand from Home Depot for $4 for 50lbs. Seems pretty fine to me, about as fine as sugar i'd say. Not as fine as beach sand though, I don't think. My cory cats love it!

 

[SuperColey1]

best substrate for Corys, and sand sifting cichlids, and many others

AC