Is Building Sand Ok For My Tank?

[iffles]

ok- thanks OldMan. so its no the ammonia in the sand, its anaerobic bacteria thats bad. will the mts sort that out? because i would like to have live plants so i cant stir it up continuosly, uprooting them each time.

 

[OldMan47]

Anything that disturbs the sand to keep it from compacting and trapping non-oxygenated water will work fine. MTS have been suggested for that purpose but I just don't care much for them. It is more a personal dislike than having any real reason.

 

[Haych]

Anything that disturbs the sand to keep it from compacting and trapping non-oxygenated water wil work fine. MTS have been suggested for that purpose but I just don't care much for them. It is more a personal dislike than having any real reason.

+1 - i hate snails!

i have corys

 

[iffles]

im planning on having cories and kuhlii loaches-will they do the job?

 

[The Other Lebowski]

im planning on having cories and kuhlii loaches-will they do the job?

corries won't do anything, as busy as they are they barely scratch the surface. khuli may dig in, but not enough to prevent gas build up. you need trumpet snails.

or just dont lay the sand too thick. however keep in mind that you need more sand to get the equivalent plant base as gravel. sand is a lot lighter, hence more of it is needed to keep the plants rooted. 5 cm is the minimum in my mind, and that's roughly the thickness at which the gas pocket build up peril starts.

btw, i bought a 25 kilo bag of snow white Hagen-branded sand in my LFS for 20 euro. to pay that much for a bag building sand is insane.

 

[OldMan47]

Don't worry too much about getting an animal to take care of your tank. After all, that is your job. The neatest trick that I think I have seen is someone would connected a chopstick to a gravel vac and ends up stirring the sand every time they move the gravel vac around.

 

[jjkremp]

Ok, at my LFS, I was looking at sand for my tank, when i saw a bag of building sand for £25! It was just ordinary building sand- even labeled building sand! When the house was renovated, we bought a bag the same size for something like £1-2! Is this ordinary building sand ok for my aquarium? because i really think the LFS is ripping people off , and I don't want to pay 20 times more.

So, my question is which would you buy? And do you think building sand is safe for my fish?

shoot i use the sand they mix with gravel and crete to make concrete wash it really good in extremly hot water to also release any chemicals in it and it works great really slick and soft not as abrasive as play sand for some reason

 

[Truck]

There's no need to disturb the sand, its a myth, Pockets of hydrogen sulfide may form in the substrate and people are right in saying it is a highly toxic substance, but it only forms in anaerobic pockets that lack oxygen, as soon as it is in the presence of oxygen it oxidizes to form water and sulphur dioxide:

The chemical equation goes like so:
2H2S + 3O2 > 2H2O + 2SO2

The hydrogen sulphide reacts with the oxygen to create water and sulphur dioxide, which will rise to the surface and gas off, it may tickle your nostrils with a rather rotten eggy smell but thats the only harm it will do.

Hydrogen sulphide oxidizing in freshwater lakes can pose problems though, because they're shallow and the volume of the mud and dirt underneath is greater than the volume of the water in most cases, oxygen depletion can become a problem, but in freshwater tanks this wont happen.

Disturbing the substrate is more likely to cause ammonia spikes, and as a result, you will get algae.

 

[theshadowinc]

Here is what I did when I made my substrate a little different then what you are doing but still the sand part is interesting for you,
my first layer
Peat and vermaculite
filled the bottom forget the inches used now, but after I put it in I then filled the tank so it was all damp and wet and water line was level with the top
next layer was clay, special clay forget itdont exhaust over time well it does but also takes back in to..... I put some inches of this in then filled with water to where it was level looked kinda umm eww and I washed nothing!
last layer from front to back 4-8" reason for so much is when doing waterchanged I can gravel vac the sand kinda hard to explain how i do it but every time you do lose some sand.....
before I put the sand in it was all rinsed so it was wet, then I put in and slowly layer by layer me putting it in I add water till it was level this helps to take all air pockets out, I didn't do this on my second tank and still get air bubbles coming out erm.... then add next layer of sand so on and so forth and then lvl the water with sand hight this helps with the distribution of the water evenly and should get all air pockets out of the substrate at least it worked for me when I did my main tank

 

[Inchworm]

im planning on having cories and kuhlii loaches-will they do the job?

Hi iffles

If you plan to have corys and kuhliis don't get builders sand. Play sand has smoother edges and is safe for them. Sharp sand, like builder's sand, will erode the cory's barbels and harm the kuhliis' when they burrow into it.

If you don't make it too deep, a little stir with your fingers will keep dark pockets from forming. This is ugly, if nothing else. Corys won't do more than disturb the surface like you can see here:

 

[iffles]

Hi, thanks for your replies . I went out to argos and got hold of 2 15kg bags of play sand - they sure were heavy . I need to rinse it now, think i'll put the sand in a bucket and run the hose through it for a while or until the water runs clear.

There's no need to disturb the sand, its a myth, Pockets of hydrogen sulfide may form in the substrate and people are right in saying it is a highly toxic substance, but it only forms in anaerobic pockets that lack oxygen, as soon as it is in the presence of oxygen it oxidizes to form water and sulphur dioxide:The chemical equation goes like so:2H2S + 3O2 > 2H2O + 2SO2The hydrogen sulphide reacts with the oxygen to create water and sulphur dioxide, which will rise to the surface and gas off, it may tickle your nostrils with a rather rotten eggy smell but thats the only harm it will do.Hydrogen sulphide oxidizing in freshwater lakes can pose problems though, because they're shallow and the volume of the mud and dirt underneath is greater than the volume of the water in most cases, oxygen depletion can become a problem, but in freshwater tanks this wont happen.Disturbing the substrate is more likely to cause ammonia spikes, and as a result, you will get algae.

This is ugly, if nothing else.

so the hydrogen sulphide pockets wont harm the fish if there is plenty of oxygen, right? and i dont need to disturb the sand unless i don't like the look of it.

thanks

 

[Truck]

there is always enough oxygen, there simply isn't enough H2S to deplete a tank, no need to disturb the sand at all, unless as you say, you don't like the appearance.