play sand for tanks

[bittersweet]

Well after looking through many expensive 5 lb bags of sand at fish stores I was told I could buy some play sand for cheap and it does the same thing. I bought a 50 lb bag of white play sand today and was wondering if anyone else has used this for there aquariums? It says on the bag that its sanatized but do I still need to wash it before I add it? and is it really hard to clean? thanks for those who reply

 

[lilmolly]

I don't usually tell people to use play sand because it has broken every filter I'll put in a tank with it even though I've tried everything people have told me to do with it. Some people keep it without doing anything special at all and nothing bad happens. Hopefully, you'll be one of those people. I need to change all my play sand tanks into large grain pool filter sand tanks. This sand isn't light enough to get picked up by the filter I've heard. Good luck.

 

[cutechic]

I've used the play sand before, and you'll still need to wash it. It'll take about an hour or an hour and a half. It's not hard to clean at all, just hover the siphon about an inch above the gravel, and the poop and excess food should be siphoned off easily. If you need to know how to clean the gravel, there's some threads in the DIY section

 

[vantgE]

Well the cleaning tends to depend on the brand and how much mud is in it, minw took about three hours to clean probally 20 pounds which was all i needed for my 90 gallon, filling up a bucket and striring it while i overflows will work for the most part, but eventually i found i had to fill it up-stir it-then let is settle for 20seconds, and pour all the water and a lot of mud out, a pillow case should work well too

 

[bittersweet]

thanks to both of you for your replys. I was actually tempted to get the pool filter sand, but it was yucky looking and I like the white color of the play sand, I have a sponge filter in the tank ATM but will be replacing it with a whisper one, so I hope I dont have clogged filter probs..but we will see.

 

[cutechic]

I haven't had sand in my tank long enough to see if it damages the filter, but after water changes I turn the filter off for 5-10 minutes so that the sand can settle.

 

[Teelie]

Pool Filter will work a lot better but if it looked "yucky" then I guess you'll find the hours of extra work on the Play stuff worth it.

 

[Doggfather]

i'm going to buy some sand today, CFC recommended Silica sand since it's totally inert...

GL

 

[Teelie]

All sand is pretty much sillica. I can't remember why some sand is called sillica sand though. Anyhow, pool filter is also inert and cheap and meant for water.

 

[lilmolly]

Cute puppy Teelie, is that a shih-tzu?

 

[Teelie]

I have no idea. I was going to find out but never got around to it. The picture it came off of originally had captioned, "Fluffy Destroyer of Worlds" underneath it.

 

[lilmolly]

I think it is.

 

[FishDan]

Pool Filter will work a lot better but if it looked "yucky" then I guess you'll find the hours of extra work on the Play stuff worth it.

Maybe my experience is different, but I don't find play sand to be any "extra work" and certainly not hours of it. I washed for about an hour (5 pound bag) in a bucket then put it in my tank. After adding water it was cloudy, as is the case with all sand I should think. The sand all settled within about 5-6 hours to a crystal clear tank. Sand "puffs" a bit when cleaning, but immediately settles back. The first couple times I vacuumed up any "dust" and have had no trouble whatsoever. Again, maybe I am just lucky. I love the way it looks (almost as much as my other tank, which has Tahitiian Moon black sand) and the ADFs love it too.

\Dan

 

[Teelie]

My sand took a max of an hour to clean as well for a 30 gallon, and it settled straight away, only clouded for a few minutes and even that was light cloudiness, almost imperceptible. I have bottom dwellers and none of the sand goes higher than the top of their dorsal fins on a good digging spree.

On the otherhand, nearly everyone says they have to wash their play sand for hours to get it clean, then it clouds and doesn't settle for several more hours and anytime a fish moves it, it clouds up.

 

[lilmolly]

On the otherhand, nearly everyone says they have to wash their play sand for hours to get it clean, then it clouds and doesn't settle for several more hours and anytime a fish moves it, it clouds up.

That's what happens with me. I'll been through about 30 filters in the last two years with my four play sand tanks. I think I'm going to have to switch to gravel because this is crazy.