Going To Be Setting My New Tank Up Suggestions Plz

[SugarQube]

Hi will start to set my new tank up tomorrow and would like to try sand has anyone any views on this ? Also is it safe to use childrens play sand asked at my local Maidenhead Aquatics and he said it would be fine just wanted to check with people on here
Also any suggestions on what fish I could have would like a community with peaceful fish, but I do like angels and would love some kind of shark any suggestions. My tank is 40 Gallons.
Any help would be appreciated thanx

 

[VidVid]

hey, i hav heard play sand is safe for aquarium use. Just be sure to wash it out a few times to be on the safe side. Some sharks such as silver sharks get too big for 40 gallons and other sharks like the red tailed black shark and rainbow sharks may get too aggressive for community setups. A couple of angelfish could be kept in a tank your size. You could always try a variety of shoaling species such as most small tetras and bottom feeders such as corydoras and kuhli loaches. But if you really plan on getting angelfish, you could try some of the larger schooling species of tetras that cant fit into a fully grown angelfish's mouth. Just check on the fish index for more info on particular species you want...Hope this helps, good luck with your new tank.

 

[SugarQube]

hey, i hav heard play sand is safe for aquarium use. Just be sure to wash it out a few times to be on the safe side. Some sharks such as silver sharks get too big for 40 gallons and other sharks like the red tailed black shark and rainbow sharks may get too aggressive for community setups. A couple of angelfish could be kept in a tank your size. You could always try a variety of shoaling species such as most small tetras and bottom feeders such as corydoras and kuhli loaches. But if you really plan on getting angelfish, you could try some of the larger schooling species of tetras that cant fit into a fully grown angelfish's mouth. Just check on the fish index for more info on particular species you want...Hope this helps, good luck with your new tank.

Thanks for reply thats great do you know if you wash the sand like gravel ? or do you have to sieve it in any way

 

[fish-r-fancy]

Thanks for reply thats great do you know if you wash the sand like gravel ? or do you have to sieve it in any way

Well what I did when I put sand in my 55 gallon tank was stuffed some of the sand in a pillow case and I used the garden hose to rinse it the sand stays in the pillow case and all the water leaks out, just keep doing this until the water runs clear. Also since the tank isn't already set up have you thought about cycling the tank? You can choose to either do a fishless cycle or a cycle with fish. Good luck!

 

[voo]

When adding the sand, don't make it too deep else you will get anerobic gas pockets. To avoid this, either make the sand really shallow, say 1cm deep, or get something that moves the sand. Kuhli's are good for this, but malaysian trumpet snails are a lot better. They burrow in the sand and so it gets turned over often. However they do breed rapidly and you can soon find many in your tank.
You can probably get some from people if you ask in the buy/sell section of this forum for the price of p+p.

As already mentioned, remember to cycle the tank first.