Play sand or pool sand?

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Anonymous Fox

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Hello:)

I added plants to my tank, but they're not staying rooted, and I need more substrate. which is better? play sand or pool filter sand. also, do I have to take the fish out to add it in?
 
As far as a comparison between the two substrates go, I can't exactly come to a conclusion. I personally use ASDA's brand of play sand, and that has been a fantastic substrate for my community tank.

Unfortunately, with a fine substrate like sand, plants are prone to being uprooted regardless of what you use, especially if you have bulky fish like plecos which kick up quite a bit of mess when they're startled.

You can buy special weights to hold down plants, or tie them to a pebble or rock using an elastic band. Alternatively, you can cut crosses into bottle tops and push the plants into them, which helps to keep them weighed down if you press them into the substrate.

Your best bet is to take out fish to add or remove large amounts of substrate, since leaving them in may cause unnecessary stress.

Hope this helps!
 
Having used both I tend to stay away from pool sand, primarily because it is too bright. I don't think there is anything fundamentally wrong with pool filter sand other than the color. My BN pleco doesn't do very much digging but I have a Goby that has totally re-arranged the sand. I just replanted after she did her renovations and it seems to be working. Rooted plants seem to do the best with the tank with the goby in it.
 
The best between the two overall and the best for keeping plants rooted, is play sand hands down.
 
The initial question is a bit trickier to answer because there seem to be different types of play sand and pool filter sand, different with respect to the roughness of the grains. If the pool filter sand is white, forget it, this is not good for fish.

Play sand will be a more natural hue, often buff-tone, or grey-toned. If you are in North America, Quikrete Play Sand is ideal, and comes in both shades though local stores (Home Depot, Lowe's, etc) may have one and not the other. But it is safe sand for a fish aquarium. If you are in the UK, there is a brand very similar if not identical, it may be the one PlasticGalaxy mentioned, I honestly cannot remember the name, but someone like @Essjay will know.
 
The initial question is a bit trickier to answer because there seem to be different types of play sand and pool filter sand, different with respect to the roughness of the grains. If the pool filter sand is white, forget it, this is not good for fish.

Play sand will be a more natural hue, often buff-tone, or grey-toned. If you are in North America, Quikrete Play Sand is ideal, and comes in both shades though local stores (Home Depot, Lowe's, etc) may have one and not the other. But it is safe sand for a fish aquarium. If you are in the UK, there is a brand very similar if not identical, it may be the one PlasticGalaxy mentioned, I honestly cannot remember the name, but someone like @Essjay will know.
Limpopo ?
 
Argos play sand is the one we know is fish safe. B&Q play sand was mentioned some time ago but it seems to have disappeared and they only sell building/drive sand now. There are other brands of play sand but it is not known if the other brands are fish safe.
 
PFS is what I use in all of my tanks, the Quikrete brand....plants do well, as do my corys and kuhlis and plecos
 

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