Question About Sand

[Meggie :)]

I am going to maybe start filling up my new 50 gallon aquarium after my family and I get back from visiting my grandparents. I definately want to do sand, not gravel. How exactly do I wash the sand? and I don't know if I want to do black or white sand...any suggestions? my tank is going to have livebearers with very bright colors

And how much sand would I need for a 50 gallon? I want it to be pretty thick...how do I figure out how much to buy?

 

[StandbySetting]

What height do you want the sand to be? Work out the volume in litres of the sand you'll need by multiplying the internal length and width by the average desired height of sand in centimetres and divide this value by 1000 to get a value in decimetres (Litres), Silica sand has an approximate density of 1.6 Kg dcm[sup]-3[/sup], so times the value you get in Litres by 1.6, and this is how many Kilograms of sand you'll require.

 

[Noahs ark6]

pour all the sand into a bucket, pour water into it, swill it around and pour out the water, keep doing this until the water runs clear, it can sometimes take up to 8 times. when you pour the sand into the tank, and the water goes cloudy dont worry, turn the filter off (the sand will damage the impeller) until the cloudiness goes (half to 3 days)

 

[fluttermoth]

If you really, really clean the sand, it won't cloud the tank, but you must be ruthless about tipping away all the particles that don't sink immediately.

 

[Meggie :)]

The tank's base dimensions are 4 feet x 13 inches...and it's 50 US gallons (which is about 190 liters I think) ...I want the sand to be maybe 2 and a half to 3 inches deep...do you think that would be okay?

 

[puffcandy]

If you really, really clean the sand, it won't cloud the tank, but you must be ruthless about tipping away all the particles that don't sink immediately.

Yip agreed. I used a small kitchen basin and washed my sand in batches. It can sometime look as if your washing away good sand but don't worry your not.

 

[Jen]

If you have one of those siphons that attach to your tap the job is soo easy. I just did the same thing, and would fill with water while moving the siphon rigorously through the sand, then siphon the water out. I did this for about 30 minutes (50lb of sand) and it was crystal clean, no clouding in the tank at all.